“Hm… Did I destroy the source of immortality itself?” Davey wondered.
-It’s a little different. I think that the system itself is broken.
“What did Surtr put in this sword?”
The sword Surtr had made could very well be a weapon that would allow a human to kill God. Since Davey wasn’t the one who put the authority to destroy immortality in the sword, he couldn’t understand the mechanism of it; he did learn a lot of things from Surtr, but there were still some important things that he didn’t know.
-Other than that, the long aging process and the OP finishing material are probably aspects that amplified the power. Still, it doesn’t affect everything just because it can destroy immortality.
Davey knew that these swords would turn out absolutely amazing, but he did feel a little bitter for some reason.
“Let’s think about the complicated things later.” Davey calmly glanced somewhere else. Then, he smiled at the empty space. “Ready or not…”
Crash!! The air momentarily vibrated before the red blade energy Davey had released cut through it.
“Here I come, you ass.”
* * *
Boom!! It was an enormous crash. Pedkhid, the vampire, quickly ran away without looking back. His instincts of fear overtook him entirely.
‘I’ll die if I get caught! I’m going to die! I’ll really die if I get caught!’ Pedkhid couldn’t even think about why a powerful and dignified noble like himself had to be running away so disgracefully; he was consumed with the thought that he had to run away from that lunatic of a human. ‘He’s not easy!’
Pedkhid had thrown his dignity out the window, running away once the human suddenly found him. He had seen how the human easily slashed the demonic beast that was sent to provoke him.
Boom!!! Boom!!
“I can see you.”
Feeling a chill in the air, Pedkhid reflexively rolled onto the floor. He then saw frightening red energy slice the space where his neck had just been.
“Shriek!!”
“You haven’t paid yet, sir.” The human teased Pedkhid in exactly the same way he had done with the demonic beast. He also didn’t look tired at all, even though he had run quite a long distance.
“D—Damn human!!” Pedkhid swore and threw himself down on the ground once again. He didn’t expect this at first—no, he had underestimated his opponent, thinking him to be like all other humans.
When Pedkhid had first been given the assignment, he didn’t understand why Pace, the high-ranking vampire who was his master and superior, had given such orders. They were dignified nobles, so they had no need to be this cautious in killing a human. Furthermore, Pace was a transcendental being who ranked above regular vampires. Pedkhid was also a mid-rank vampire, but he could proudly say that his powers were close to that of a high-rank vampire since he had received the grace of Pace. In fact, as the demonic beast he had controlled had also received Pace’s grace, it was also a powerful being that even strong Swordmasters couldn’t easily kill.
According to Pedkhid’s plan, he was going to scare the human with the demonic beast and toy around with him. But now, everything was clearly a mere delusion on his part. He had misunderstood the severity of the situation.
Crash!!
“Keugh!”
As the monstrous human instantly flew up and pinned him on the ground, Pedkhid’s survival instincts began to ring like an emergency alarm.
“S… Seriously, what are you?! Shriek! What are you doing?! Stop it!!” Pedkhid yelled.
“What do you mean?! This is an act of love!”
“…” In the sudden silence, Pedkhid could tell that this human was absolutely crazy.
“Man, you need to make these kinds of jokes to enjoy life. Do you really believe that gays do this to express affection?” The human complained, still pinning Pedkhid down so that he couldn’t move. Then he pierced through Pedkhid with two fingers.
“Kuk!!” Feeling an intense pain, Pedkhid went as stiff as a plank.
The human smiled with satisfaction. “Now you’re calm.”
“W… What did you do to my body, human?! You inferior species… Do you want to die? Get rid of this now!” Pedkhid shouted without thinking.
The human just shrugged. “I’ll let you go later, but there’s something I want to make sure of first.”
‘Sorry, but I’m famous for being good at keeping secrets among the vampires!’ Pedkhid thought. He was sure that he would never reveal anything to the human, but he was soon dumbfounded by what the human said next.
“Oh, really? Sorry, but I know a perfect spell that can read all of your thoughts.”
Pedkhid thought something like that couldn’t exist; however, all he could do was scream as a strange dark purple flame blazed from the human’s hand.
* * *
The strange flame, which seemed to be alive, burned. It threatened to burn Pedkhid’s legs.
[Mind Subjugation]
[Dark magic ‘Curse Mark’]
[Spell Merger]
[Fire of Interrogation]
However, the scorching dark purple flame left no burn wounds. It only gave him a nasty pain.
“Kaaaah!!! It’s hot! Hot! Put it out! Please put it out!!” Pedkhid squirmed around, screaming with snot and spit all over his face.
Perserque frowned.
-You. He is the enemy, but this is…
“Don’t worry. He’s not going to die,” Davey said.
-You know that I’m not worried about him dying!
“Demon Lord, do I have to consider the situation of someone who is after my life?”
Perserque frowned at Davey’s rhetorical question.
-You are right, but…
As Perserque struggled for an answer, Davey dulled the flame that was hurting Pedkhid. He said calmly, “Well, okay. We don’t have to be barbaric when we can do something else.”
-I won’t stop you if you are aware of it.
Davey wondered if this awfully sweet little girl was really the cause of a world war between species. He then watched the trembling vampire before stepping on him.
“Keugh!” Perhaps due to the mental shock, Pedkhid’s pupils dilated. It looked like he had been ripped apart despite not having a single scratch on him.
“I don’t need a lot from you, so let’s keep this short.”
“Groan… Moan…”
“First, what are you?”
“Huff… Puff… Human! You think I’d… Shriek!” Pedkhid trembled and squirmed at the sight of the dark purple flame in Davey’s hands.
‘This isn’t an ordinary flame, but a type of curse made to cause pain. It makes sense that he is afraid.’ Davey knew that such a curse was made to cause the victim a nasty pain, like they were burning alive, but the curse wouldn’t kill or injure them.
‘It might be foul and wicked, but what more could you expect from a curse that has malicious intent in the first place?’
Rho Aias, Davey’s dark magic teacher, hadn’t taught Davey this so that he could use it like this; she had taught him this curse so that he could learn how to counter it. However, Davey was the kind of person who had to use everything he had.
“You want more?”
“P—Pedkhid! I’m a count!”
“Hm… How does a mid-rank trash like you have the power of immortality?” Davey asked, knowing that the power of immortality was the source of pride for the vampire nobles.
Pedkhid knew exactly what would happen if he stayed silent. He had seen the demonic beast that had the power of immortality be slaughtered in one blow.
“You could actually die if I slash you right now. So, next question. Your target is me, and it’s because of that vampire lady-in-waiting, right?” Davey asked.
“T—That’s right!” Pedkhid probably didn’t want to tell Davey, and it was true that he was better at keeping secrets than most; however, he had answered almost reflexively because he was in such severe pain. He even struggled to stay conscious.
“Then, answer me this: why do you and that demonic beast from earlier have the power of immortality?”
Pedkhid stared at Davey while trembling. He looked like a million thoughts were running through his mind; he couldn’t tell Davey even if he wanted to, but he was scared of the pain. He was in a predicament.
Davey thought that maybe he should pressure Pedkhid a little more, but he couldn’t. As Pedkhid began squirming around in pain, Davey simply asked, “Hm?”
“I’d rather choose death!” With those last words, Pedkhid began puffing up like a balloon before bursting apart.
Boom!!
-A taboo… And it’s complete death. What a cruel curse…
Pedkhid’s last words might have not been his, but a message of the person who had inflicted him with the curse. The fact that he wasn’t granted the use of immortality meant that he wasn’t that valuable. His complete death was so cut and dry that it was almost meaningless.
“I did expect that to happen.” Davey nodded. He put distance between him and Pedkhid’s exploded body, then squinted. “I guess this is all I can get for now.”
-Davey…
After Perserque lowered her head and mumbled apologetically, Davey answered calmly, “There’s nothing for you to be sorry about. I asked him for small bits of information at a time because I knew this would happen. I’ll have to get the rest from the others I capture.”
Perserque tightened her lips as if she was somewhat leery.
* * *
Once a curse was broken, it would be made known to the one who cast it. This meant that Davey knew that one of the curses he had inflicted on Carlus had been undone. It had become dormant, to be exact, but Davey was nonetheless surprised. It would have been pretty difficult to find it, and yet they did.
Seeing the dwarves working day and night on the restoration of the sacred item, Davey felt a little bitter. It wasn’t like he hadn’t suspected it since vampires never forgive those who had hurt their prestige.
Davey had guessed that this situation was inevitable as Shari, the vampire lady-in-waiting whom he had slashed, definitely seemed to be from quite a prominent family.
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