Chapter 16: Reversal of fortunes (4)

“Absorb.”

As soon as I uttered the spell, the energy from the Death Knight’s mana-infused spear began flowing rapidly into my body.

Jang Hyena shouted,

“What is going on here? Is it even possible to absorb not just mana, but even dark mana?”

The audience shared the same curiosity.

– Can you eventually absorb dark mana after enough training?

– Maybe it’s just something Masked Instructor can do. I don’t think we can.

– ᄂᄂ Or maybe we can too!

– ᄅᄋ If that’s possible, doesn’t that mean we could learn the Heavenly Demon’s technique later?

– ᄌᄂ You’re going too far. Regardless, it’s not something that can be easily used. Look, even Masked Instructor is in serious trouble right now.

On the livestream, Masked Instructor’s face alternated between swelling grotesquely from the dark mana and returning to normal, repeatedly.

The Death Knight in front of me yelled in bewilderment,

[Curse you, human! What are you doing? Why are you defying the natural order by attempting to use dark mana?!]

“You’re sounding a little more polite now. What’s wrong? Are you scared?”

– Whoooooooooosh

The dark mana was being sucked into my body at an insane rate.

Normally, dark mana cannot be used by just absorbing, circulating, and releasing it. It’s not black magic, and to use pure dark mana, a purification process is required.

If you try to use it without purification, your body could swell up and burst.

– Rumble rumble rumble

As if to prove this point, my body began swelling as I absorbed the dark mana.

The Death Knight, watching me inflate with dark energy, started laughing.

[Of course, trying to wield a power that doesn’t suit you would cause your body to fail. Die, foolish human.]

At that moment, I extended my other hand into the air and absorbed external mana.

“Recovery.”

[B] Recovery effect activated. It restores a portion of the damage inflicted on the body.

Recovery normally heals injuries or damage in proportion to the amount of mana used. However, if this skill is continuously repeated, it can heal even higher levels of injuries in real-time.

“Repeat recovery.”

[B] Recovery effect activated. [B] Recovery effect activated…

As the system notification chimed endlessly, my body was stabilizing more and more.

[Wh-what is this?!]

Seeing me standing there, still unscathed after absorbing all that dark mana, the Death Knight hesitated and took a step back in shock.

[You’re able to absorb pure dark mana and remain unharmed… could you have been chosen by the Seer?]

The Death Knight rambled nonsensically, likely trying to stall for time.

Assuming as much, I raised my hand toward his face and released all the dark mana I had accumulated at once.

– KABOOOOOM!

– Whoooooosh!

An intense explosion roared, and fierce winds began swirling around.

[Release] isn’t exactly high-grade magic.

It simply releases the mana you’ve gathered.

The reason for such destructive force was that I had absorbed an enormous amount of dark mana.

Of course, this one strike wasn’t enough to kill an A-rank boss.

Clang.

The Death Knight stood back up and pulled out the sword that had been hanging from his waist.

[It’s been a long time since I wielded a sword instead of a spear. I swore I’d never hold a blade again in this form, but I’ll acknowledge it. You’re the most troublesome human I’ve ever faced.]

[From now on, I will consider you a worthy opponent. Don’t expect any more mercy.]

– Shiiing.

With a cold, metallic sound, the Death Knight unsheathed his sword.

‘What the hell, this pattern wasn’t there before?’

While playing Helmunt Academy Online, I had never seen the Death Knight use the sword strapped to its back.

Even after being transported into this world, I fought this guy multiple times, but I had never seen it wield a sword.

The setting for the Death Knight was that as a Sword Saint, he swore never to use his sword with his body tainted by dark energy, in order to preserve his pride as a swordsman.

Because of this, I always considered his sword to be just a decoration. But now, he had clearly drawn it.

The viewers who knew the dungeon to some extent were in an uproar.

• Is the Death Knight using a sword? Doesn’t he only use dark energy and a spear?
• I’ve watched every single strategy video on the Death Knight, and I’ve never seen him use a sword.
• But isn’t he supposed to be a Sword Saint? He’d be way better with a sword than with a spear, right?
• This feels like real Fucker.

Despite pretending to stay calm and facing the Death Knight, I was actually quite nervous.

Witnessing a pattern I had never seen before… Whenever that happened, there was always something that followed.

Sure enough, just as I expected, a quest window appeared, just like in my old Hunter days when I’d grown sick of seeing them.

• Ding!
• You’ve met the conditions to trigger a Hidden Quest.

[Hidden Quest: The Complete Submission of the Death Knight]

▶ The Death Knight, who lived his life with pride as a swordsman in service of his king, was betrayed by his most trusted comrade at the last moment and lost all his power. He turned to dark magic to reclaim his strength, but by then, his comrade had already taken his own life. Now, the Death Knight wanders aimlessly, searching for a new king to serve. Completely subdue him and be acknowledged as his king.

▶ Reward: Obtain the Death Knight’s Thought Sphere.

For reference, once a Hidden Quest is triggered in a dungeon, everyone who enters the dungeon can see it.

As soon as the reporters saw the Hidden Quest, chaos erupted.

“Hey! What are you doing? Write the article, fast! A Hidden Quest appeared in an A-rank dungeon!”

“You, rookie! Are you out of your mind? Get that article out now! This is a scoop!”

“S-sorry! I’ll post it right away!”

The viewers, who couldn’t see the Hidden Quest, were confused.

• A Hidden Quest? But he’s soloing? In an A-rank dungeon, no less?
• Today’s truly legendary… How many views will this video get when it goes up?
• At least 10 million. There’s literally nothing to skip today.
• What kind of reward does a Hidden Quest give? It’s an A-rank dungeon with a Death Knight boss…

The public callout by the president of Helmunt Academy, the amateur streamer’s solo run of an A-rank dungeon, and now a Hidden Quest—all these sensational elements converging made the current situation feel like an overheated furnace.

“Film it! Don’t miss a single moment, and shoot from every angle!”

“Don’t push! We paid for the filming rights to be here, too!”

“Fucker, we paid the same! Get out of the way!”

“P-please don’t push! Are you going to compensate me if you break my magic tools?”

“Crazy Fuck, deal with that later! Get out of here now!”

Reporters were fighting tooth and nail to secure the best spots for capturing me and the Death Knight. Even Hye-na, floating in the air, was nervously filming me closely with her magic tool.

‘Hmm… I don’t know what the quest reward is, but taking this guy down is still the priority.’

With that thought in mind, I rushed toward him, this time without using [Discharge]. I simply sprinted forward.

[Human, your tricks won’t work on me anymore.]

The Death Knight swung his sword toward me.

• Huuuuung
• Pajijijik

Just swinging the sword sent a chilling sensation of magic coursing down my spine, as if an overwhelming electric shock was flowing through me.

‘What the hell? Is this really just an A-rank boss?…’

Before becoming an instructor, I had sneaked into gates countless times, using underhanded methods to operate as a lone hunter.

Although I wasn’t widely recognized, my experience was unparalleled.

‘If I’m feeling this level of pressure, others must be in even more trouble.’

Looking around, I noticed that the once loud group had fallen silent.

“Um… the filming…”

“Shut up… if that thing comes for us, it’s really over…”

They instinctively knew the truth: if they were hit by the Death Knight’s sword strike, they would be reduced to ashes.

• Paaang

I quickly used [Release] to create an explosion and propelled myself backward.

[Human, are you fleeing? I had acknowledged you as my rival, but it seems you have reached your limits.]

• Kuuuguguuk

The Death Knight stomped hard on the ground, preparing to leap towards me. If given just a moment longer, he would charge at me like a bullet.

In that instant, I pressed my hand to the ground and shouted.

“Absorb!”

As I absorbed external mana, I rapidly began casting a spell.

Due to personal reasons, I had been refraining from using high-level magic since entering the dungeon. However, given the need to defeat him quickly, I reluctantly resorted to using high-level magic that was invisible to the eye.

• [S] Acceleration: Increases the user’s magic casting speed dramatically.
• [A] Elemental Infusion: Grants an element to the user’s magic. You have chosen the fire (火) element.
• Infusing the stone magic with the fire element.

The reason for using Acceleration was simple: when using elemental infusion magic, even utilizing external mana would increase casting speed. I didn’t have time to wait.

Once I cast the Acceleration spell and used Stone magic, countless rocks began to form in midair instantaneously. All the rocks were ablaze with flames.

[Do you think you can face me with such low-grade magic? You possess greater power yet underestimate me. That arrogance will be paid for with your life.]

The Death Knight, ready to charge at me, paused and scoffed at the floating rocks above.

Ignoring him, I continued to generate more rocks.

“Stone, Duplicate.”

Soon, the sky was filled with blazing fireballs. The Death Knight seemed to sense the threat, falling silent as he stared at the rocks created by [C-rank magic: Stone].

‘Though I’m using the S-rank skill Acceleration and the A-rank skill Elemental Infusion, most people will only notice the Elemental Infusion; they won’t realize I used Acceleration.’

Thinking this, I smiled and said, “Low-grade magic? But there are a lot of them, don’t you think?”

“Take a good look at this low-grade magic.”

With a sweep of my hand towards the Death Knight, all the fireballs surged in his direction. I added one more incantation to the falling Stone magic.

“Gravity Enhancement, Stacking.”

In that moment, all the flaming rocks began to plummet towards the Death Knight at an unbelievable speed.

If you enjoyed this chapter, you might also like another tale of a falsely accused protagonist. Discover their journey and the challenges they face in a similar narrative.

Read it here: Another Story of a Falsely Accused Protagonist