CHAPTER 35: SLAIN

[ Dark King defensive skill: Scale of Darkness is in effect, 75% of damage dealt would be nullified ]

Marlon’s expression crumbled. No wonder the entire army of knights could only deal a total of twenty thousand damage after a minute of relentless attack.

With the Dark King’s defensive skill, his normal punch — the Punch of Iron — would only deal about five hundred points of damage.

Now he began to understand just how terrifying his situation was. His Punch of Judgment, which dealt greater damage, would soon become useless since it required aether points, and he was already running out of it.

Only the Punch of Iron, which didn’t require aether, would remain.

His situation was as hopeless as it was dangerous.

But he did not give up.

He raised his voice and commanded the divine knights to attack even more fiercely.

The remaining knights charged forward again, their weapons clashing violently, ringing through the dark battlefield.

Zoomed in, they looked like they were in a fierce battle, but from afar, they only resembled ants trying to take down a massive boulder. Each simple movement of the Dark King slayed dozens of them at once.

Marlon also attacked relentlessly, blasting the tough body of the Dark King with every ounce of strength he had.

And just like that, an hour passed.

[ 877,506 / 1,000,000 ]

Not even one-fifth of the Dark King’s health had been taken away. The situation looked hopeless, even more so as more than five hundred knights had already been slain, leaving less than that remaining.

Marlon had long since run out of aether points, and with no means to restore them, he was stuck using only Punch of Iron, which dealt about five hundred damage per hit.

Three hours went by.

[ 798,000 / 1,000,000 ]

Now, only about two hundred knights remained.

Marlon was still standing, but his breathing had grown heavy, and his face had lost all color as exhaustion took over him.

In battle, he was always in an optimal state because slaying monsters restored both his health and aether points.

But now he was up against a single opponent with an impossible amount of health. At this pace, an entire day would pass before he could bring it down and that was if he even survived that long.

His health points had already fallen below half.

If not for the Bracelet of Vitality, which increased his maximum health, he would have died from the first sonic attack of the Dark King.

He braced himself and urged the army to continue their assault.

No matter what, this battle would not see his end. He swore it to himself.

Twelve hours passed.

It should have been noon by now, yet the entire sky was still dark, and the crimson light from above remained unchanging.

All around Vale Kingdom and its neighboring territories, monsters born from the Dark King’s hex continued to wreak havoc. By now, at least a thousand innocent lives had already been lost.

And still, the battle with the Dark King continued.

[ 633,000 / 1,000,000 ]

Now, only a hundred knights were still standing, and that was only because Marlon had ordered them not to throw away their lives aimlessly.

But Marlon himself—his health had already fallen past the bearable point.

[ Health Points: 255 / 2200 ]

If the Dark King used its sonic skill again, he would meet his end.

His mind ran wild, trying to come up with a plan, though nothing seemed to favor him. And just then, a dark thought surfaced in his mind.

Marlon pulled back from the battlefield and called over a group of ten knights to accompany him, while the others kept the Dark King occupied.

Once they reached a safe distance, Marlon clenched his fist and did the unthinkable.

He killed them.

[ You’ve slain x1 knight... ]

[ Drain activated, you’ve obtained 95 health points. ]

[ You’ve slain x1 knight... ]

[ Drain activated, you’ve obtained 80 aether points. ]

At the end

[ Aether Points: 200 / 200 ]

[ Health Points: 785 / 2200 ]

"It... it works?" His eyes widened in disbelief. He hadn’t expected it to actually work.

But now that he had seen both the advantage and the darkness hidden within his skill, a plan began to form in his head.

He returned to battle.

He used up all his aether points on his strongest skill, then continued fighting until his health fell below two hundred once more.

By that time, the Dark King’s health had dropped.

[ 512,000 / 1,000,000 ]

Then he once again called a few knights aside, killed them, regained his health and aether points, and went back into battle.

He continued this for a long time.

Another six hours went by, and the progress of the battle was finally looking better.

[ 268,960 / 1,000,000 ]

Only about thirty knights remained now.

Marlon decided to gamble a little. He slowed down his pace, fighting carefully with the aid of his knights.

He had already mastered the robotic attack pattern of the Dark King and could now predict several of its incoming strikes. Using what he had observed, he managed to fight for close to thirty minutes without taking any major damage.

After that, he did his usual routine — called ten knights aside, killed them, and returned to the battle.

Two more hours passed. By then, all the remaining knights had been slain by his hand, and the Dark King’s health points had dropped below fifty thousand.

Its movements became slower, almost sluggish.

Fortunately, it didn’t possess any overpowered ability that activated during a critical state.

Even its defensive skill had weakened — dropping from nullifying seventy-five percent of his damage to just twenty-five percent. Now, even his Punch of Iron dealt three times more damage than before.

[ 1,650 / 1,000,000 ]

A confident grin returned to Marlon’s face.

He swiftly climbed a nearby rock and launched himself into the air, soaring straight toward the core of the massive Dark King, whose sluggish movements could no longer keep up.

"Punch of Judgment!"

The gauntlet on Marlon’s fist blazed with divine light, pulsing with raw power. He shot forward like a bullet, aiming directly at the Dark King’s glaring red eye.

The impact struck with a deafening boom, shaking the entire battlefield. The Dark King staggered, its massive body cracking under the sheer force of the blow.

With one last surge, Marlon slammed his gauntlet again. Light exploded outward, blindingly bright, and the Dark King’s body finally collapsed.

[ HP: 0 / 1,000,000 ]

Marlon landed lightly, the gauntlet still glowing as he took a deep breath, a proud grin spreading across his face as he turned toward the fallen corpse of the Dark King.

At that moment, the changes caused by the Dark King’s existence began to revert.

The red moon vanished.

Night still blanketed the world, but the usual three moons returned to the sky.

Across all territories that had fallen under the Dark King’s control, the monsters began transforming back into humans.

They instantly understood — the Dark King had been defeated.

Cries of joy filled every street. Families embraced, laughter replaced screams, and feasts were hastily prepared in celebration.

Meanwhile, the reason for their happiness stood quietly, watching an influx of glowing notifications appear before him.

[ You’ve slain the Dark King ]

[ Mission completed ]

[ The Goddess of Light is overjoyed with your assistance in ridding her people of darkness. She has granted you a Gift Package. ]

[ Gift Package has been stored in your inventory and will be revealed once you return to the real world. ]

[ Breakthrough Trial completed ]

[ Rating: 95 / 100 ]

[ A bonus reward has been added for your exceptional score. ]

[ Congratulations, you’ll be sent back to the real world in 5 minutes. ]

[ 04:59 ]

"A gift from the Goddess of Light and a bonus reward from the system... T-this is more than I expected!"

His eyes gleamed with joy. He couldn’t wait to return to the real world and see what rewards awaited him.

For now, he decided to use the five minutes he had left to bid farewell to Lunar.

He ordered for the knights to bring her over.

As expected, she froze at first — staring up at the massive corpse of the fallen Dark King, several times larger than any monster she had ever seen.

Then her gaze turned to Marlon. Tears welled up in her eyes, and without hesitation, she ran toward him, throwing herself into his arms as she cried.

"T-thank you," she whispered softly, her voice sweet and clear like that of a heavenly angel.

But then she paused. Both of them did.

"Y-you spoke..." Marlon said in surprise, eyes widening. "Your voice has returned."

Lunar was at a loss for words.

She stared at him, speechless, then stammered, "I-I can speak..." testing her voice again as if she couldn’t believe it herself.

When she realized it was real, she cried even harder. Tears streamed down her cheeks, her sobs unrestrained as she buried her face against him.

Marlon hugged her back gently, patting her shoulder while piecing together what had happened. Since she was a blessed one, her fate must have been tied to the Dark King and now that he was gone, her curse had finally been lifted.

[ 01:00 ]

Only one minute left before his departure.

He began to speak, explaining what was about to happen.

Lunar looked at him, confused at first. She didn’t understand what he meant by "leaving."

Marlon gave her a faint nod and explained everything to her.

Slowly, it sank in. Her eyes widened, and without thinking, she clung to him tightly, as if her grip could stop him from disappearing.

But it was already too late.

[ 00:10 ]

Golden light began to shimmer around Marlon, his body slowly dissolving into radiant particles.

Seeing this, Lunar pressed closer, trembling, feeling the warmth fade from his body. Then, with her newfound voice, she whispered softly, "Thank you..."

Marlon smiled warmly, waving to her one last time before his body vanished completely, returning to the real world.