The Ruined Death Knight

Walking past the corpse that he was very much responsible for, he walked towards the two cloaked figures.

But before doing that, he first wanted to check the spoils from his massacre.

[Shield of Daylight]: A shield that bathed in the morning daylight while it´s making. Inspired by that daylight, the blacksmith placed enchantments that amplify light magic and even slightly that of holy magic. Because of that, the shield is much more resilient against death and dark magic.

`Ugh, I can´t even use that.´ Danzel complained internally to himself.

The shield by itself was never to doubt a great item that many would kill to get their hands on, but it wasn´t made for Danzel.

Even when he tried to guide his mana to the shield, he felt a slight resistance from the shield. Although the resistance was almost none existent, it was there. Making Danzel complain about his luck.

His [Death Guarding Swordmanship] was in the very sense, a sword art that used both a sword and a shield.

Although he found some shields that he could use which were now inside his storage ring, they were generally of poor quality, most coming from the massacres that he did in this desert.

`At least this shield shouldn´t break too easily...´

Putting those thoughts away, he stopped once he reached 5 meters in front of the two cloaked figures.

"So? What about this second test?" Danzel asked as he turned towards the cloaked woman.

Even though he was towering over her with how tall he had become, in reality, Danzel felt an intense aura leaking from her.

An aura that made even him hesitant to fight against her.

The male with a similar cloak beside her caught his attention too, but not at the same level as the cloaked woman. Though he gave off some kind of cold aura, that was all about it.

Ignorant of his thoughts, the woman walked and brought her arm around the cloaked man's shoulder.

"It´s nothing complicated, you will fight with him. If we determine you worthy, you pass. Simple as that."

Hearing that, the cloaked man turned his head towards the woman in surprise.

"What!? Didn´t we agree that it´s your turn?"

Ignoring what he had to say, the cloaked woman turned her head towards Danzel who was at the moment frozen in place.

Noticing him standing like a statue, she put up a warm smile that was hidden for the public to see.

"Don´t worry, we just want to see your skills to the fullest. I will be one the side watching as the judge, so...have fun! I will be cheering for you!"

As soon as she finished speaking, she turned around in an attempt to get out of the arena, alas the man with the cloak wasn´t that happy with her decision.

"Hey, where are you going! I Didn´t agree to the- Hey!" Running after her, he caught up and started arguing with her while Danzel was questioning his decision on coming here.

Even though Danzel arrived at Arcsarah today and knew nothing from the hidden rules and agendas of that merchant and participants alike, he wasn´t totally clueless.

Based on what the merchant that he "saved" said, the necromancer was the leader of that mercenary group and he and his group were all of the 4th-tier.

That fact alone made him want to avoid confrontation with the cloaked man at all cost.

He knew what the strength difference between a 3rd-tier and someone of the 4th-tier was.

Sure, he was confident in fighting someone on the same tier as him, but he wasn´t suicidal to face someone of the 4th-tier.

The memories of being frozen and turned into hundreds of pieces were very much clear in his mind.

After a long debate between those two cloaked figures, the man with the cloak sighted out loud before turning to face Danzel. His face was still hidden under the hood.

He didn´t know what those two talked about and he also didn´t care much.

Be it the man he faced or the woman, Danzel knew what the result would be.

Before opening his mouth to tell them that gives up on the second text, the cloaked man was a second faster than him.

"Since my sister wouldn´t be able to hold back her punches, I will be facing you. Though it would be more of a spar. So you don´t have to worry for your life" the cloaked man said.

"..."

Staring at each other, an awkward silence accrued between those two. Though the silence lasted only a few seconds, for the onlookers it felt like hours.

The two were 15 meters away from each other and yet the people were anxious about missing the engaging with the murderous knight and that of a 4th-tier.

Danzel debated if he should trust the man's words or not.

Though one could point out him as hypocritical for fighting and expecting the other party to show mercy.

The people that he killed today were most likely expecting to come out of the fight alive even after they lose and yet he still cut their livers without hesitation.

He very much held dear his life and he wasn´t willing to let go of his life no matter the cost.

`I still have [Undying] to use. Even if I accidentally die... it should be fine.´

Convincing himself that it was fine, Danzel strengthen his grip on his sword.

Seeing both ready, the cloaked woman raised her hand with three-finger showing in her dark skin.

"Once I count down to three, you may start! 3..."

Danzel pushed all sides though to the side and put his entire focus on the man in front of him while barely keeping track of the counting.

His ethereal eyes flared up with an ominous dark green light behind his helm, while he guided his mana around his body.

"3-2-1-Begin!!!"

Once the moment that the final finger was down, Danzel kicked the ground and dashed forward with all his killing intent leaking out of his body.

*Brough!

Leaving a sand cloud behind from where he was standing, he moved a total of 5 meters in an instant. The people watching from the side didn´t even process what just happend expected the participants survived.

Looking at Danzel's charge, the man with the cloak swung his sleeve to the air with an indifferent expression on his face, which was hidden by his hood.

Coming out of his sleeve were 3 red projectiles which were as fast if not faster than a bullet.

Seeing the incoming projectiles, Danzel continued moving forward while dodging the 2 with some quick maneuvers and blocking the last red projectile.

He could had avoid the last shot, but that would have required him to stop and lose his momentum.

Alas, once the projectile met his shield, he couldn´t help but halt for a second.

*Thuad!

A loud metal sound was heard.

If Danzel wasn´t undead and wore no helmet, he would have a face of disbelief.

"..."

Staring at the spot where his shield was hit by the projectile, smoke was to be seen with a small yet deep scratch together with some red liquid splashed around that spot.

The impact that this projectile had could be compared to that of a truck driving at full speed at the very least.

Danzel body had already reached the level where he could hold his own against such force, but thinking of what would have happend if those three projectiles had hit him was especially scary to him.

`Was that magic!? I didn´t notice any kind of mana and nonetheless, it was too fast to be magic!´ Danzel though.

Unfortunately, he was wrong.

It was indeed magic. The reason why he couldn´t tell for sure was that the cloaked man could cast this fast and hide the mana in his spell to an almost impossible kind of level.

Out of his own curiosity, he touched the red spot in his shield and brought out the description. And the description of the red liquid made him even more confused.

[Defiled Blood]: Blood of a wielder holding the talent [Defiled One].

"...Blood?"

"You noticed, huh" The man with the cloak said as he raised his hand.

The next moment, a crimson light escaped from his cloak, and a pile of crimson clear blood circled around his arm.

For the name of [Defiled Blood], one would expect the blood to be dark and show lots of impurities, but that wasn´t the case with this blood.

The crimson blood soon started to circulate around his arm and turn into a spear that was whittled. The defiled blood that was in a liquid form hardened to the point that the blood looked no different from that of a crimson metal.

If he had to guess, that whittled spear wasn´t any inferior to his own sword be it its sharpness or durability. Also, the red veins that flowed inside that metal were also quite the sight to see.

`Are you telling me that this thing is made out of blood?´

As he finished those thoughts, a faint red light escaped from the man's cloak before disappearing and to his surprise, the man dashed right towards him!

Gritting his teeth, Danzel forced himself to meet the whittled crimson spear.

He didn´t know if it was just a piece of sturdy metal created by magic similar to how Nersan´rah made the weapons out of sand or if it had something special to it, he was left with no other choice but to engage in close combat.

From the man's previous demonstration, it was clear that sooner or later he would kick the bucket if they started with ranged combat.

Forced upon him, his sword met the whittled crimson spear.

*Thuank!