[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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Chapter 248: Aftermath (1)
***
Damien stared at Sla’s lifeless body.
Thanks to his knowledge of dark magic, he could see how Sla’s soul had been extinguished with a horrific scream.
No matter how strong a body’s regenerative abilities were, once the soul was destroyed, it was over.
All that was left before him was an empty husk.
“It’s over.”
As the tension eased, a wave of pain washed over him. The aftereffects of the battle were finally catching up with him.
He struggled to stand and collapsed to the floor.
Damien squeezed his eyes shut tightly. In the darkness, he mumbled softly.
“Sister…”
In his past life, Louise was the only one in his family who had taken care of him to the end.
She had worried about him when he was exiled from his family, even giving him the money she had been saving up and wishing him happiness.
But Damien was not able to complete his sister’s last request.
By becoming a Death Knight, he had brought misfortune upon himself and everyone else. He had even killed his family and allowed his sister’s soul to fall into Sla’s hands.
His sister had suffered for a long ti in Sla’s grasp.
“Finally… I’ve killed her.”
Of course, this was all just a story from his past life.
His sister in this reality was living a happy married life.
Even if he killed Sla, his past life sister would not be saved. Only Damien would find satisfaction in it.
But he had no intention of stopping.
He would kill everyone who had tortured his family’s souls in his past life, the wretches who had sided with Dorugo and brought destruction to the world.
If there was even a 1% chance that the sa future awaited him as in his past life…
He couldn’t let a single one of them live. He would kill them all and extinguish their very souls.
“You did well too.”
Damien looked down at Dawn. Then he suddenly noticed sothing. There was a chip on the blade of the sword.
It seed that he hadn’t been able to fully withstand Sla’s last blow and the blade had been chipped.
“You pushed yourself too hard. I’m sorry.”
Ziiing.
Dawn humd as if to say it was fine. But of course, it couldn’t possibly be fine.
“I guess I’ll have to visit the Church again soon.”
He had been thinking about doing it anyway. Holy swords of Dawn’s caliber grew stronger with each battle. And each ti they grew, they needed to be reforged to maintain their full power.
“Just rest for now.”
Damien sheathed Dawn. Then he sensed a presence above him.
A large number of people poured down from a hole in the ceiling. One of them cried out.
“Mr.Damien! You’re alive? Mr.Damien!”
It was the academy Chancellor, Altman Bedepullity.
Altman rushed towards Damien with the instructors, but then he stopped in shock when he saw Sla’s corpse.
“W-what is this…?”
Sla’s body was shriveled like a mummy. It was consequences of her soul being destroyed.
However, since the main body was so huge, even the mummy was enormous.
It was so overwhelming that even knowing it was a corpse, one couldn’t help but be overwheld.
“It’s Sla.”
Damien said flatly. Altman replied with a surprised face.
“I-Is this really Sla?”
“If you find it hard to believe, call in the investigators. You should already have a good understanding of the nature of Sla’s dark magic.”
At these words, the eyes of the Chancellor and the other instructors wavered.
With Damien acting so confidently, they couldn’t help but believe it, even if they didn’t want to.
The fact that this was the corpse of Sla, the Succubus of Pandemonium.
“…To have dealt with Sla alone.”
“How many such skilled people can there be in the empire?”
“There can’t be more than ten. That’s incredible.”
The instructors all looked at Damien in awe.
Damien didn’t care much about the instructors’ reactions.
“I’m going to leave now.”
“Well, wait a minute, where are you going?”
The Chancellor asked in surprise. Damien looked at the Chancellor with a cold gaze and said.
“Why? Do you think you’re going to stop again like before?”
Damien was still holding a grudge against the Chancellor for interfering with him.
Damien’s glare made the Chancellor unable to look up.
“N-No, of course not.”
“I’m tired and I want to rest. I’ll be in my room, so please call if the investigators are dispatched.”
Damien leaped over the ceiling. As he went outside, he saw the faces of other instructors.
Two students were sandwiched between them.
They were Oliver and Penelope.
“Are you both okay?”
Damien said this and approached the two, but they flinched and took a step back.
“W-Well…”
“T-That’s…”
The two were clearly afraid of Damien.
Damien didn’t take it personally. When he found Sla, Damien couldn’t control his emotions.
They felt his killing intent the first ti so it was natural that the two would be scared.
“I’m glad you’re both safe. Get checked out and rest, just in case.”
Damien turned and headed for his room.
Oliver and Penelope watched Damien’s back with mixed expressions.
***
Within a day, investigators were dispatched to the academy.
The investigators extracted dark magic from Sla’s corpse and examined it.
“…The pattern of the dark magic matches. It’s definitely Sla.”
“Is this really Sla? One of the strongest giant evils dies so easily?”
“What can we do? There’s a dead body right in front of us. We have to believe it.”
The investigators imdiately wrote a report and submitted it to the imperial court.
As soon as the report was received, the imperial court was turned upside down.
“It’s confird that Sla died at the academy.”
“What? Does that an Sla was really hiding at the academy?”
“It’s absurd… What kind of place is the academy that a giant evil would…”
“I think other organizations should be needed to investigate. Who knows if Pandemonium’s influence has reached them?”
The imperial officials took this incident very seriously.
The academy was the cradle that nurtured the future of the empire. Such a place had been defiled by Pandemonium.
There was no guarantee that other organizations were safe. They had to launch a full-scale investigation, even if it ant turning the empire upside down.
“What about that knight, Damien Haksen? Did he really fight Sla alone?”
“The testimonies of the students and instructors are the sa. It’s certain.”
“It’s absurd. Wasn’t Sla one of the most powerful beings in Pandemonium?”
“How many knights died to Sla? Damien Haksen did that all alone…?”
The officials originally had a very negative view of Damien.
How could they like a person who broke the tradition of the academy?
But if that knight had killed Sla, that was a different story.
“I feel relieved when I think about all the crap that bitch did.”
“Over hundreds of thousands of imperial citizens were sacrificed to that Succubus.”
“How many knights died? How many talented people were taken away?”
The harm Sla had inflicted on the empire was imasurable.
There was no one among the empire’s nobles who did not have a grudge against Sla.
“I heard he went to the academy to find Sla.”
“So we were wrong to insult Damien Haksen.”
“Oh, well… I don’t know what to apologize for.”
While the officials were busy discussing Damien and Sla, the emperor was deep in thought.
‘To have defeated Sla…’
The emperor couldn’t help but be impressed.
The empire had been chasing Sla for decades without even catching a glimpse of her.
Not only had he found this monster on his own, but he had also defeated her alone.
‘He has achieved an extraordinary feat…’
Such a feat was unheard of in the history of the empire.
‘Wait a minute.’
The emperor suddenly realized sothing.
‘Now I can support him wholeheartedly now, can’t I?’
***
While the investigation was ongoing, Damien rested in his room.
‘I need a week to recover.’
He had to push the Combined Infinity Cycle and Art of Sacrificial Raging Demon Manifestation to the limit to keep up with Sla’s speed.
Using these two mana cultivation techniques multiplied his physical abilities and mana output several tis over, but they also put a great strain on his body.
‘I’m still not strong enough to face an opponent like Sla.’
Damien didn’t take this victory too optimistically.
Sla was still considered ‘relatively’ easy to defeat. This was because Damien had an advantage in terms of compatibility.
Sla’s most powerful weapon was her ability to emit pheromones.
Most knights were enslaved by Sla’s pheromones. Even those who managed to resist were often hindered by the pheromones during battle.
However, Damien was completely unaffected by the pheromones. This was because Damien’s ability to control his body was so advanced.
‘Her physical abilities were overwhelming, but her movents were simple.’
Sla’s speed and destructive power were unparalleled, but she couldn’t use a wide variety of attacks because she hadn’t learned any martial arts.
As a result, Damien was able to read all of Sla’s movents and counter them in advance.
‘A Weapon Master won’t be that easy.’
A Weapon Master was a Master Class knight who had already overco nurous walls.
He was also technically skilled and could use his demonic swords to create all sorts of variables.
‘I need to get stronger to face a Weapon Master.’
Damien thought about the Dragon Heart in the subspace.
It was a bit disappointing to rely on it alone. Damien needed an elixir that would further enhance his abilities.
‘If possible, I’d like to get another fragnt of Erebos.’
If the power of Erebos beca stronger than it was now, he might be able to turn the tide of the battle against a Weapon Master.
‘Where else could I get another fragnt…’
Damien was lost in thought when he heard soone knocking at the door.
Damien got up and opened the door. He was surprised to see who was there.
It was Sword Saint standing at the door.
Sword Saint imdiately pulled Damien into a hug and laughed out loud.
“Haha! You crazy bastard! I never thought you’d kill Sla!”
Sword Saint hugged Damien tightly and then let him go after a while.
“What brings you here, Sir?”
“When I heard that Sla was dead, how could I sit still? I ran right away! There are so many things I want to ask you. No, I’m dying to ask you!”
Sword Saint patted Damien’s back.
“But who’s the man behind you?”
Damien asked as he looked at the man standing behind Sword Saint. The man was hiding his head and face with a black robe.
“Oh, this guy…”
A look of embarrassnt crossed Sword Saint’s face for a mont.
“Let introduce myself.”
The man said as he removed the robe that had been hiding his head.
The first thing that caught Damien’s eye was his silver hair, which seed to have been plucked from the moonlight itself.
But it wasn’t just his hair that was unusual. The man’s skin was white, with no hint of color.
“My na is Eos.”
The man said and continued to stare at Damien with his blood-red eyes.
“I am also known as the Imperial Supre Sword.”
***
[Translator – Kie]
[Proofreader – Kawaii]
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