Book Eater

The death energy emitting from the death knight filled the great space.

As a result, the light coming from the light magic bent in a dizzying manner while the deep darkness wriggled like it was alive.

In addition to the continued pressure, the tangible death energy spread out sharply and aimed at the three of them.

It was Mind Blade, a sword that cut the mind, not the body.

It was a mental attack that was one of the few of this type that utilized aura.

“Hey, can’t you do it in moderation?”

The moment Leonardo took two steps forward, the sharp edge of the death energy was crushed and lost its strength.

It might be wrapped up in a few techniques, but in the end, it was just a cheap trick.

There was no way it would work on a swordmaster of his level.

After seeing that, the death knight was convinced. The light in his eye sockets blinked a few times as he admired him.

-How wonderful! Have you realized both form and intention? You are already at this level at your age. You are a genius rarely seen once in a century.

“What?”

Leonardo’s eyes widened at the sudden compliment.

“Pu, puhut, puhahahaha!”

He let out a burst of laughter that would cause anyone seeing it to feel embarrassed.

Naturally, the death knight’s voice stiffened when he saw Leonardo’s reaction.

-What is so funny?

“Ah, I’m sorry. I don’t mean to make fun of you.”

Leonardo barely managed to stop laughing and smiled bitterly.

Then he shifted his gaze to the death knight.

The more he looked at this enemy, the stranger he felt. There was no malice despite being the dungeon’s core monster. Only the spirit of facing a proper opponent dominated the gap between the two of them.

Leonardo opened his mouth and spoke with his own courtesy.

“I know you mean your words. I am happy. However, I grew up looking at my older brother’s back, who is ten or even a hundred times better than me. He is the one who appears once in a century, so I’m a bit embarrassed hearing you say that about me.”

-Hah!

The death knight was amazed after hearing his sincere words.

-What an absurd family. You are a talent I’ve never seen before in my life, so I can’t imagine it.

“I understand. I wouldn’t have believed it if it wasn’t my brother.”

-I can’t count the days that I’ve felt sad because I couldn’t die, but this is the first time that I felt sad to be dead.

The unnamed death knight lamented. He would like to see the face of such a person even when dead.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t escape from this cursed cave.

Above all, he might seem intact now, but he had just resurrected. This was why he wasn’t contaminated. However, it was clear that he would soon be infected by the dungeon’s evil will and lose his sense of reason. He wanted to kill himself if possible, but that was impossible with this body that was trapped in the dungeon.

-...Still, I’m glad it isn’t too late.

The death knight’s eyes were blazing as he raised his head. At some point, two swords were held by the black gauntlets.

Leonardo felt the opponent’s fighting spirit and had long taken a stance.

The satisfied death knight crossed his double swords at once.

-Now, let’s start.

“Do we have to fight? We can communicate well.”

-I am the heart of this dungeon. Against my will, this body gathers the dead and raises them in a terrible way.

The death knight explained the reason.

-Master of the sword. If you truly want to respect my honor, please end this ugly life.

“Hah, dammit.”

Leonardo let out a long sigh. He slowly took two more steps while speaking to the children behind him.

“Stay as far as possible. I don’t think he will target you, but I don’t know what will happen if you get caught up in the battle.”

Adellia and Verus immediately ran to the rear. There were no children in the world who knew the strength of a master-level better than them.

Putting aside Theodore, who had become a transcendent, Veronica and Sylvia alone were among the strongest on the entire continent. On the rare occasions when they ‘warmed up’, the children could see mountains collapse and the sky be torn apart.

A swordmaster’s fight might not reach that scale, but it was even more dangerous in terms of the concentration of power.

‘That much should be fine.’

Leonardo confirmed the location of the siblings and tilted his sword.

At the same time, the death knight tilted his two falchions at an angle and stretched them out in a V-shape.

The gap of around 10 meters froze in a still manner.

It was a distance that a swordmaster could erase with a single step.

This moment kept flowing.

It split even one second down, slowing time so much that even a thunderbolt would be slow.

Was this silence for one second or one minute?

Kakiing!

Leonardo’s blade flashed and turned to light.

Clovis One Sword Style.

Advance Attack Hidden Technique.

Lightning Slash.

It was a lightning-fast slash filled with killing intent. This move didn’t show any preparatory actions, and thus was less powerful because he didn’t use his knees, waist, and shoulders, but his timing was half a beat ahead.

His arm, which was hanging down, sprang up like a whip in a flash.

He aimed for the right wrist.

It was more efficient to reduce combat power than to target non-existent vital points. The sword moved without a sound and fell toward the death knight’s gauntlet.

Clang!

Two colored aura blades collided. The double swords, which arrived half a beat earlier, received Leonardo’s sword.

The sword strike was returned perfectly as if it was predicted!

However, both of them were surprised by it.

‘Clovis swordsmanship...?! Why?’

-Kuhahaha! This is interesting!

The stunned Leonardo and the somewhat jubilant death knight unleashed dozens of attacks one after another.

Clang!

One of the horns on the death knight’s helmet was cut off.

Claaaang!

Leonardo’s left shoulder was grazed by the blade and was cut.

“Gasp!”

-Yes!

Nevertheless, the two swordsmen didn’t back down at all.

It was a fierce struggle that focused on attacking while neglecting defense.

Slash before you get slashed.

Stab before you get stabbed.

According to this straightforward battle logic, three blades repeatedly clashed with each other.

In less than 20 seconds, hundreds of exchanges took place. In the midst of it all, Leonardo took a breath and grabbed the upper hand.

Clovis One Sword Style.

Special Hidden Meaning Technique.

Thunderbolt Fang.

A thunderbolt shot out and smashed the death knight.

Even though two swords were used to block it, he was still pushed back several meters, leaving two furrows on the hard surface of the ground.

Leonardo opened the gap as he intended and lowered his sword.

“...You—who are you?”

No matter how many times he thought about it, he wasn’t mistaken. This death knight, an unnamed knight, was using the Clovis swordsmanship.

In addition, it felt more mature and old.

It was at a level that couldn’t be considered an offshoot of the family.

However, the death knight didn’t answer.

-Don’t ask the dead for answers, descendant. This is all we can talk about now.

Dark gray aura rose from the double swords he was holding.

There was no need to talk any longer.

Leonardo felt the opponent’s will and closed his mouth. In any case, this wasn’t a situation that could be solved with words. The blades raised after this interruption were stained with a bright blue aura.

The two swordmasters of the Clovis swordsmanship clashed once again.

* * *

The light of the swords intersected many times.

Kikikikiing!

The darkness with no physical substance was shattered by the blue and gray aura blades that covered the air like cobwebs.

They held enough power to shatter mithril just by brushing against it!

Perhaps they both intended to end it with one blow as both of them raised their aura without considering a long battle at all. The shape of the smooth blades blazed like flames.

Aura Fire.

It was a technique of overloading the aura blade to exceed the compression limit.

This was enough to make it hard for even immortal, high-ranking undead to survive. In fact, the death knight was grazed by Leonardo’s aura blade which turned his armor to rags.

-It is a marvelous power...!

The knight was driven to the defensive and held his dual swords at the bottom.

Clovis One Sword Style.

Confusion Strike Hidden Technique.

Wolf Frenzy.

Leonardo moved forward without hesitation and poured out a series of attacks.

The blue Aura Fire attacked, burning in all directions. This caused goosebumps to appear even on the dead body of the death knight who saw it.

It was a literal deadly move!

The death knight determined it in an instant and took stance.

Clovis Two Swords Style.

Hidden Technique.

Triple Lightning Strokes.

At the same time, three lightning strikes soared.

These three consecutive strikes moved straight forward, diagonally, and horizontally.

Originally, it was a hidden technique that cut off the enemy’s defense or attack and then killed them with the next two consecutive moves that aimed at the gap created.

However, the death knight had transformed these three consecutive moves.

He was so focused on killing power that he completely severed the linked part of the three moves. As a result, the aura storm created by Leonardo was divided into several parts and scattered lightly.

“Che, that is a good trick!”

Leonardo lost his momentum and took three steps back, but the death knight wasn’t in a position to chase either.

-As expected, it doesn’t regenerate.

The side that was grazed by the remnants of the aura storm was torn as if bitten by some type of animal. The dark gray magic power flowed out. The death knight’s purple eyes sank deeply upon seeing this.

The end was approaching.

The siblings watching the battle from a distance could also tell.

“Uncle Leo has the advantage. It will be over in a few minutes.”

Upon hearing Adellia’s assertion, Verus tilted his head.

“By the way, Sister. I don’t know if I’m mistaken, but isn’t that death knight’s swordsmanship similar to Uncle’s swordsmanship?”

“Well, maybe it is because they are both masters?”

“Is that so? Indeed, there is no way that two swords and one sword can use the same swordsmanship...”

In fact, this was the correct answer, but the two swordmasters didn’t have time to confirm it.

Aura Fire was powerful but it consumed a lot of power.

Leonardo and the death knight had fought for nearly ten minutes in this state and were slowly reaching their limit. They probably could only exchange five more blows at most. In some situations, one of them might fall within three blows.

Leonardo took a breath while quietly thinking about it.

‘...I roughly understand who this death knight is.’

He didn’t know when it was, but it was a story he heard in passing while drinking with Randolph.

It was the story of when Theodore and Sylvia defeated a black magician who appeared in the back mountain of their hometown and in the process, had found a lost heirloom and defeated the undead of an old ancestor.

‘I heard he was a skeleton knight when he fought against Brother.’

Now that this opponent had returned again as a death knight, he was a hundred times more powerful than he was back then.

Apparently, he was reborn as an undead of an appropriate level after being resurrected as a core monster.

Adolf, the ancestor of the Clovis family.

He was one of the Imperial Seven Swords who chased a black magician at the emperor’s command. Eventually, he punished the necromancer who was controlled by Death’s Worship, but the price was his own life.

It wasn’t enough to be killed, and he was resurrected twice as an undead. It was a pity that he couldn’t die.

-How wonderful.

Meanwhile, the death knight spoke in a satisfied voice.

-As expected, one whose time has stopped can’t defeat the one whose time is flowing. The sword of my descendant has exceeded me and now there is only an unfinished duty left.

“What is the unfinished duty?”

Leonardo’s tone became a bit more polite after learning who the opponent was. The death knight nodded and replied.

-Passing on the family’s techniques!

Soon after, the death knight, who was actually Adolf Clovis, divided the two falchions so one was at the top and the other was at the bottom.

Leonardo didn’t know what was coming despite learning all of the Clovis swordsmanship.

Still, it wasn’t entirely something unexpected.

It was probably the family’s ultimate hidden technique, which was said to have died along with the ancestor Adolf.

-Don’t miss it. You only have one chance.

The dark gray aura started burning again, and the body that was already collapsing ended up collapsing even more quickly. The damage accumulated in the battle and the aura’s excessive fire was destroying the undead body.

Nevertheless, Adolf firmly grasped both swords.

What inconveniences had his family suffered after his sudden death? He hadn’t heard or seen anything, but he could guess.

Kiing.

Leonardo silently lowered his sword to the middle without saying a word.

Nothing was known about the final hidden technique. If he didn’t know the destructive power, the form, or anything else, he could only fight back with all his might.

This wasn’t from the Clovis swordsmanship; it was his own special move.

“...”

-...

The gap between the two swordsmen sank into an eerie silence.

The stormy momentum wasn’t as strong as before, but there was a sense of tension like two predators were aiming at each other’s necks.

It was like watching a demonstration where a bowstring was pulled to its limit.

It was at this moment—

Gasp.

The moment that Leonardo took a breath.

Clovis Two Swords Style.

Final Hidden Technique.

Wolf Spirit.

Adolf lowered his posture like a beast and rushed in. The double swords that were raised up and down were like a pair of fangs. The aura fire wrapped around the blade flared up and formed an unknown shape.

No, it could be seen when looking at it closely.

The few fluttering strands of aura looked like the mane of a beast while the aura gathered around the sword shone like a beast’s eyes.

‘A wolf!’

That’s right.

He was like a wolf itself.

The wolf lightly tore apart the supersonic wall and rushed in with its mouth open. It was clear that if hit by this charge, even a few layers of walls would collapse in one blow.

It couldn’t be helped.

“—Then.”

He had no choice but to cut it.

Leonardo lowered his waist and raised his sword diagonally. It was for the most efficient and destructive blow of his swordsmanship.

Kkikikikik!

From ankle to knee, knee to waist, waist to shoulder, shoulder to elbow, and finally the wrist.

He turned the joints of his whole body without missing a single one.

The path was a diagonal line with added centrifugal force. The blade gathered all the aura to one point and struck down!

Leonardo Self-created Style.

Nameless One Sword Strike.

Shortly after, a dark gray wolf and a blue thunderbolt collided.