Chapter 5: Malum

The history of the mortal kingdoms could be classified in the following way:

Before the Malum.

And after the Malum.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Their presence had been branded into the collective imagination as a symbol of chaos and unstoppable destruction. In the past, armies had been formed to stop the invasion of these beings. Unfortunately, their success had been nonexistent.

Little by little, the enormous kingdoms of old were reduced to colonies and independent cities, ruled by local lords who took advantage of the political vacuum to gain power. As a result, the dragons sent their champions to drive the Malum away from civilization.

And after centuries of intense struggle, they half-succeeded.

Thousands of these creatures still roamed the world. No longer in hordes, as they had seven centuries ago, but individually.

Unfortunately for mortals, the damage caused by the Malum would never disappear.

THUD.

The reinforced gate the soldiers had spent half an hour defending exploded into a thousand pieces.

The captain’s eyes went wide. At the same time, he raised his shield and advanced alongside three of his companions. All of them wore chainmail, iron gauntlets, and carried short spears, ideal for fighting monsters without risking their limbs.

“W-What happened?”

“Captain, look.”

One of the militiamen pointed with his left index finger toward the village entrance, now without a gate. There, a lone entity advanced at a slow pace.

From a distance, they could not make it out.

But after a few seconds, once the smoke dispersed, they finally saw the ultimate monster.

At first glance, it did not look like anything special. It was a humanoid with purple skin, wearing dark, torn pants that only reached its knees. Its torso, on the other hand, bore a star-shaped tattoo, while its head was covered by an iron cage that left only two holes exposed for seeing.

If not for the color of its skin, anyone would have mistaken it for a human.

In its hands, it carried two maces covered in bloodstained spikes.

And therein lay the most terrifying thing about the Malum.

They could take any appearance, from a six-meter giant worm to a humanoid with differently colored skin. Their chaotic nature, wandering powers, and overwhelming strength made them the perfect executioners of every civilized race.

Humans, elves, beastmen, demi-humans, halflings, dwarves, hybrids, and swampmen.

Every single one of them had suffered enormous losses against these brutal adversaries.

For that reason, the captain was alarmed by the mere sight of it.

If it had destroyed a reinforced gate without any trouble, what hope did they have?

“Ru—!”

He could not finish the word “run.”

A hundredth of a second later, his body exploded into a thousand pieces. His companions did not even react. The corpse literally disappeared. The only things left behind were a puddle of coagulated blood, a few strands of hair that had somehow survived, and, of course, the figure of the purple humanoid standing among the soldiers.

It had crossed eighteen meters as if it were nothing.

“Huh?”

That was all they managed to say.

The Malum slaughtered the guards protecting the entrance.

It was not even worth describing such a massacre.

Only six seconds were enough for an entire regiment of soldiers to be annihilated. In the end, only fragments of bone, clothing, and entrails remained, serving as food for the undead still entering the village.

Then, the unstoppable beast fixed its evil gaze on the draconic energy it saw farther ahead…

.　　　　.　　　　.

“What is that thing?”

Not even all the experience in the world could prepare a mortal to face such a monster. The Malum were a mockery of life itself, beings that defied the natural order of things. Because of that, even the veteran Abad froze in horror at that moment.

“Do not move, no matter what.”

The warrior in dark armor also felt fear. However, his training and willpower pushed him one step forward.

He held his sword out in front of him, and the Malum, in response, did the same with its two powerful bloodstained maces. Chunks of flesh were still stuck to the crimson spikes, which would not stop dripping.

It did not attack him immediately.

Despite being entities empty of consciousness, the Malum retained a certain degree of reason when fighting. Something closer to animal instinct than intelligent planning from a civilized creature.

“A-Ah…” Ana stammered.

Everyone knew of the Malum’s existence, but very few lived to tell the tale.

“Malum, what are you doing here? Why are you attacking the village?”

Ealdic’s attempts to speak with the beast proved fruitless. There was no intention of starting a conversation.

In the past, there had been records of Malum capable of holding conversations and, in even rarer cases, displaying complete intelligence. Such specimens, however, were considered extremely dangerous and were quickly hunted down by the best adventurers in the kingdom.

That had been more than sixty years ago.

And no one who had taken part in those crusades was still alive.

“AAGGHH.”

The Malum hissed an inhuman sound. Immediately, it swung its maces with all its strength and charged toward Ealdic’s shoulders.

It’s fast.

A single movement was enough to shatter the concrete ground. The abomination’s relentless strength far surpassed any fantasy. Despite such a display, Ealdic stopped the blow with the blade of his sword.

Both maces collided with a firm defense focused mainly on standing his ground and not letting the monster advance. The family was not stupid. As soon as he blocked the impact, they ran off and took shelter behind some rubble.

Abad had to pull his wife and daughter as quickly as he could. Otherwise, they could have been caught in the brutal exchange taking place only a few meters away.

Escaping was out of the question. The undead had moved away from the area.

An intelligent choice, given the circumstances of the duel.

“D-Daddy, where are we going?”

“We’ll stay here. If we run to the castle, the undead will finish us off. It’s better to remain in the eye of the storm.”

“All right…”

What they saw next looked like something straight out of legend.

The Malum’s maces did not stop just because the first strike had failed. On the contrary, it resumed its assault with even greater force. It aimed for the neck, left shoulder, ribs, left leg, and head.

Every single one of its attacks ended up crashing against the knight’s longsword.

CLANK.

CLANK.

The sound of metal colliding without pause nearly left poor Ana deaf. She tried to adjust her eyes to focus on the two contenders, but it was useless. They moved so quickly that it was impossible to follow the situation in detail.

Not even Abad could keep up with the pace of such a battle.

“Fire Magic: Burning Explosion!”

Ealdic surrounded his blade with a crimson flame, focused magical energy throughout the entire weapon, and without further delay, attacked the Malum with a thrust aimed straight at its head.

There was no time for refinement or elegance.

He had to kill his opponent now.

“SSSSSSSS.”

As if it were a snake, the enemy’s body reacted without conscious thought. It leapt backward, dodging the adventurer’s attack.

However, Ealdic did not stop there.

Although his sword had only kissed the air, all the magical power it carried was not about to remain idle. Half a second later, a powerful blaze shot out from the dragonsteel, striking the Malum before it had a chance to dodge.

The abomination’s naked purple torso suffered severe burns. Even so, that did not seem to bother it in the slightest. It did not show even the smallest sign of pain.

“AAAGHHH.”

Instead of retreating, the enemy resumed the offensive with a series of mace blows aimed directly at the adventurer’s body. Its absurd speed bore fruit when the left mace struck the center of his breastplate.

It was a clean, uninterrupted impact. The spikes damaged the plate, leaving behind a massive dent.

“AGH!”

Ealdic vomited blood inside his helmet. The impact was worse than he had imagined. He felt his ribs scream in pain. If he had not been wearing reinforced dragonsteel armor, he would have died on the spot.

Damn it, damn it. That attack hurt me.

The assault did not end there.

The Malum surrounded its weapons with a purple glow, the same shade as its skin. Ealdic tilted his face ever so slightly to confirm a terrifying theory: the ground touched by its bare soles ended up burning from the intense energy flowing through his enemy.

This has to be a nightmare. A Malum shouldn’t be this powerful. Damn it!

“AAAAGHHHHHH!”

The battle roar forced the knight back. Not all his martial training, draconic magic, or combat experience had prepared him to face a titan under such conditions.

The two maces almost took his head off.

It was an almost instantaneous double strike. The Malum moved at lightning speed to claim his opponent’s skull. Ealdic survived through luck, not skill. He bent his knees by instinct, and thanks to that, he managed to dodge at the last second the attack that nearly sent him to the other world.

Despite how magnificent his evasion had been, our male protagonist understood a sad truth: 

 He would never be able to repeat that feat.

Miracles like that did not happen twice.

Even the inexperienced and terrified Ana could attest to that.

“AAAAHHHHH!”

The orichalcum adventurer found an opening after saving his own skin. He gripped the hilt of his sword tightly and aimed at the deformed abdomen. The distance between them had been killed by the last attack.

This was the chance he needed.

Ealdic executed a ferocious thrust, concentrating all his strength into a single attack.

All or nothing.

SLASH.

And in the end, it was nothing.

The knight’s weapon embraced the invisible wind.

The beast retreated with a reflex that defied all established logic. Ealdic did not see it. From one moment to the next, the space it occupied in this sorrowful reality was as empty as it had been on the day of creation.

He had lost his great opportunity.

And now he would pay the consequences.

On the other hand, the family still could not move.

Remaining in the eye of the storm had been the right decision, since other poor refugees who had not reached the castle had ended up as zombie food.

And that was definitely not a pretty death.

“SSSSSSSSSSSS.”

Another unpleasant hiss came straight from those purple lips. The Malum once again filled its weapons with corrupt mana, then struck the ground with such force that rocks and concrete rose like massive projectiles aimed directly at Ealdic and the family.

“Dragon Blaze!”

However, a wall of dark flames rose between them, incinerating the debris without the slightest difficulty.

In that chaotic moment, the abomination appeared in front of Ealdic with both maces ready for a second impact.

This time, however, he managed to stop it with his longsword.

CRACK.

“AAAAHHHH!”

Even so, the damage was terrible.

The black armor suffered another crack, this time in the plate protecting his left forearm. Dragonsteel was a material of great resistance, coveted by adventurers and merchants.

The champion’s equipment also carried special spells to increase its durability, as well as reinforcements made with ancient runes that improved the user’s dexterity. There were very few creatures in the world capable of causing it serious damage.

And, to the young man’s misfortune, the Malum in front of him was one of them.

“N-No way. Daddy, Daddy, the adventurer is going to lose. What do we do?”

“There is nothing we can do, daughter. Only pray to our already forgotten gods that they grant him victory.”

His forearm had suffered a serious fracture. Ealdic had to reinforce the limb in order to keep holding the longsword. It was a temporary measure that would only worsen the injury the longer it went on.

“Monster of the abyss, you do not frighten me. Come on!”

That “heroic” phrase was only a front.

In truth, the man was scared shitless.

He left behind the calm that had always characterized him as an adventurer and let himself be swept away by the stress of the moment.

He attacked the Malum with a downward slash aimed at its left shoulder. Despite moving like an implacable hunter, the entity’s inhuman reactions surpassed any kind of training or skill.

And he could not be blamed.

Martial arts had been designed specifically to fight other mortals. Of course, there were some created to battle monsters and supernatural beings.

But the Malum went beyond that.

Their existence was toxic.

Incorrect.

A mistake of life that contaminated the sacred.

Beyond chaos.

Beyond darkness.

Beyond undeath.

Beyond the gods.

For that reason, facing them with normal techniques proved fruitless.

“Let’s fight until one of us dies!”

Blinded by rage and despair, Ealdic attacked the abomination with a flurry of cuts aimed at different parts of its body: head, neck, shoulders, ribs, testicles, legs, and lower toes.

To inexperienced eyes, the black knight’s movements might have seemed random.

But nothing could be further from the truth.

Every slash was meticulously calculated with the intent of ending the encounter as quickly as possible.

Unlike the Malum, Ealdic did not have infinite batteries. In a prolonged battle, his chances would be considerably reduced.

“Come on!” Ana shouted, the boy’s nervousness spreading to her. “You have to win!”

That’s right. I can’t lose here. There are innocents in the village who need my help. I am a Dragon Champion, chosen by the honorable members of the council to protect this world. Even if I did not choose this destiny, I will strive to do things the best I can.

“Listen to me well, Ealdic. The power we have granted you is the last line of defense we mortals possess. If you fall, then the Malum will take one more step toward the destruction of the world.”

The words of an old mentor, whose name he had long since forgotten, echoed once again in the knight’s head.

Likewise, Ana’s panicked face reminded him of what truly mattered.

It’s time to use my ace in the hole.

“Dragon Magic: Dark Heart!”

Ealdic took things to the next level. The adventurer’s armor began to shine with a shadowy radiance. Seconds later, a current of mana flowed with greater power across the area.

Dark Heart.

A dangerous technique reserved solely for Champions. It consisted of increasing the user’s strength to a level identical to that of a true dragon.

Reflexes increased.

Physical power broke past its limits.

Magical power went beyond all human control.

For many scholars, Dark Heart represented the epitome of mortals.

“AAGGHHHHH.”

The Malum jumped backward to gain distance. Its superhuman instincts told it that something had changed.

“Ice Magic: Stake!”

With an almost robotic, inhuman voice, the entity recited an extremely high-level spell.

In less than the blink of an eye, two enormous icicles coated in magical energy shot forward at great speed, aimed at the dented breastplate.

With such a short distance between them, and given the adventurer’s condition, that should have been the end.

Not even an uninjured and rested Ealdic would have been able to dodge such an attack.

A normal spellcaster, for example, would take nearly eight seconds to recite that spell, gather the mana, shape it, and then launch it as a projectile.

That elaborate and risky process took the Malum barely half a second.

But no one expected what happened next…

The projectile burned in dark flames, never having the chance to approach the black knight or the innocents he protected behind him.

“I will show you what true strength means…”