Chapter 411: Undead (2)
The undead paid no attention to the dark tendrils spreading through its chest.
Even as [Death Root] continued consuming its body, it showed no sign of pain or hesitation.
Instead, it simply swung a fist at my head.
I kicked off the ground and leaped backward, avoiding the blow by a narrow margin.
The moment my feet landed, the undead followed through with a vicious horizontal slash, but before the blade could complete its arc, I burst forward instead of retreating. My right fist ignited once more with [Hellbrand], and I drove the flaming punch straight into its jaw.
BOOM!
The impact detonated with explosive force.
I felt bone crack beneath my fist as the undead’s head snapped violently to the side, its entire body leaving the ground before hurtling across the clearing.
Then, a shadow fell over me.
My instincts screamed.
Without even turning, I knew the second knight had arrived.
Its blade came crashing down toward my back.
SHING!
I didn’t move.
Instead, I slowly turned around.
The undead knight stood frozen before me, both hands gripping its sword as it desperately forced the weapon downward.
The invisible layers of fractured space surrounding me distorted under the pressure, and the sword scraped across them in a shower of brilliant sparks, the sound resembling metal grinding against metal beneath a welder’s torch.
I grinned as I watched the undead knight strain against the invisible barrier.
Its sword continued pressing downward, the purple energy coating the blade crackling violently as it ground against the fractured layers of space protecting me.
Then my grin slowly faded.
My expression shifted into one of surprise.
The attack was never going to reach me before I retaliated. That much was obvious.
But that wasn’t what caught my attention.
The blade was actually damaging [Fractured Reality].
Tiny fractures rippled through the invisible layers with every passing second, accompanied by a shower of sparks as though the sword were grinding against solid steel.
Interesting...
I narrowed my eyes, studying the interaction instead of immediately counterattacking.
It wasn’t the sword itself.
The rusted blade should never have been capable of affecting an SSS-ranked defensive skill.
It had to be the strange purple energy enveloping both the undead and its weapon.
That energy wasn’t merely increasing the force behind its attacks.
It was interacting with my ability.
Whether it possessed some form of corrosive property, spatial interference, or simply enough power to wear down the fractured layers, I couldn’t tell.
But one thing was certain: If I stood here long enough, it would eventually break through.
Drawing my fist back, I gathered heat into my arm until orange flames wrapped around it once more.
Then I drove the punch straight into the knight’s abdomen.
BOOM!
The impact folded the undead’s body around my fist before launching it backward like a cannonball. Its feet left the ground completely as it tore through the air, crashing into the rocky hillside with enough force to send cracks racing across the stone.
Before it could even hit the ground, I launched myself after it.
I caught up to the undead midair and landed squarely on top of its body just as it crashed into the rocky earth. Then, drawing my flaming fist back, I drove it down with all my strength.
BOOM!
Its skull slammed into the ground.
I didn’t stop. I drove another punch into its skull, then another, each strike erupting with searing flames that forced the undead deeper into the crater it had created. With every impact, cracks spread across its skull as fragments of bone splintered away beneath the relentless barrage.
Only when the final blow reduced its head to shattered pieces did the familiar notification appear.
Ding!
[You have killed an Undead Knight.]
I instinctively waited for another notification to appear.
One second passed. Then another.
Nothing.
"No level up?"
I frowned. That was strange. A level seventy-five creature should have granted an enormous amount of experience, yet the system hadn’t awarded me anything beyond the kill notification.
Unless...
The thought barely had time to form before my instincts flared again.
The second undead knight was already upon me.
I thrust out my palm.
A condensed sphere of flames shot forward.
BOOM!
The fireball struck the knight squarely in the chest, forcing it several steps backward.
Yet before the flames had even dispersed, it resumed its advance.
I fired another. Then another, each explosion pushing it back, but only for a moment before it continued charging toward me with the same unwavering pace.
Fragments of charred bone began breaking away from its body.
One shoulder partially collapsed. Several ribs shattered. Cracks spread across its skull. Yet none of it mattered.
The undead never slowed. It never hesitated. It simply kept rushing through the explosions as though its own body meant nothing.
Watching it advance so relentlessly made one thing painfully clear.
Unlike living creatures, it wasn’t trying to preserve itself. It cared only about completing its objective. Then I noticed something else.
There was no trace of [Death Root].
I had expected the dark tendrils to continue spreading through the undead’s body until they consumed it from within.
Instead...There wasn’t a single vine clinging to its bones. Not even a mark remained. It was as though the skill had never touched it in the first place.
That didn’t make any sense.
Then I heard it. Footsteps. Behind me.
I turned sharply.
My eyes widened.
The undead knight whose skull I had just pulverized was standing only a few meters away.
And its head...
Its head was completely intact. Not a single crack remained.
The shattered bone had somehow regenerated, leaving the skull looking exactly as it had before I’d reduced it to pieces.
Its hollow eye sockets stared directly at me.
"What the hell..."
Before I could process what I was seeing, the knight raised its sword and brought it crashing down.
SHING!
The blade struck [Fractured Reality] once again.
The invisible barrier rippled under the impact, thin fractures spreading across its layered surface before stabilizing once more.
I frowned.
Something wasn’t right.
My attacks had been landing.
I’d shattered bones. Burned them. Blasted them apart. I’d even received a kill notification. Yet here it was. Standing in front of me as though nothing had happened. Then it finally clicked.
Undead.
The answer had been staring me in the face the entire time. These things weren’t simply difficult to kill.
They just weren’t meant to stay dead.
As long as something continued supplying them with mana, they would simply rebuild themselves over and over again.
Whether that source was the master commanding them or something hidden within the tomb, the result was the same.
Destroying the knights accomplished nothing if the source remained intact.
Which left me with only two realistic options.
Find whatever was sustaining them and destroy it, or continue killing them until that source finally exhausts its mana.
Neither option sounded particularly appealing.