Chapter 6: Dark Heart

Ealdic advanced with steady steps, gripping his longsword in a standard guard: blade facing forward, feet apart.

Anahí, Ana’s mother, could not believe the scene either. Everything felt so unreal, as if she were dreaming on a summer night.

“A-Ah…” the woman stammered.

The Malum, on the other hand, also increased the flow of mana covering its body. Within its nonexistent—or perhaps merely limited—intelligence, it had found an answer to the rise in power.

Silence.

All sounds faded away to make room for the enormous clash of titans.

Sword and maces became locked in an exchange of lethal blows.

Right, left, right, left, center, behind!

At this point, it was almost impossible to see the weapons. They moved so fast they looked like lightning bolts crashing against the earth again and again. Each impact caused a slight tremor that gradually increased in intensity, to the point of toppling the nearby ruins.

“Dragon Magic: Dead Blade!”

A crimson rune appeared in the middle of the adventurer’s longsword. The symbols came from a language extinct for millennia. Not even Ealdic himself knew what they meant.

But he did not need to know in order to use this technique to its fullest.

His muscles tensed once more, and draconic mana overflowed without any control.

D-Damned monster. I can’t drag this fight out any longer, or I’ll be in trouble.

Ealdic concentrated his own mana inside the weapon. Afterward, he combined that energy with the draconic power that dwelled within him. Shaping two different sources of magic required superhuman concentration. Even the guild’s archmages would struggle with the process.

Two sources.

Two paths.

Two hearts.

Human and dragon, mixed imperfectly, yet carrying a devastating power.

CLICK.

The currents of energy merged.

And then, the spectacle began.

Ealdic surpassed the speed of lightning, attacking the Malum’s abdomen with heroic brutality.

Unfortunately, the slash missed.

The abomination leapt backward, evading the knight’s assault by a thousandth of a second. Not content with that, the Malum’s muscular arms raised both maces and, without further delay, launched a double strike toward the adventurer’s shoulders.

SLASH.

Ana and her family were stunned when the monster’s two limbs went flying to either side. The entity did not even notice the moment the longsword cut through its arms like a knife through Serrano ham.

“AAGHHHHH!”

Surprised by this change of plans, the Malum jumped five meters into the air. Once there, the helmet protecting its head finally broke apart.

It was horrible.

It had no nose, no ears, no eyebrows, and no hair. The monster’s entire skull consisted only of a mouth that stretched across nearly half its face and two bulging eyes, empty of irises, with an unnatural void that sent a terrible chill down the spine.

Without arms or weapons to defend itself, the Malum resorted to one final card.

It opened its enormous mouth, filled with teeth as sharp as a shark’s, then aimed toward the ground where Ealdic and the family still stood.

No, no, no.

The orichalcum adventurer felt an overwhelming disturbance in the energy currents. The undead vanished, delivering the energy that had kept them “alive” directly to the Malum.

Reviving a zombie or skeleton required a certain amount of mana. For that reason, normal necromancers could only keep five to fifteen units under their control. By that same logic, the mana needed to control hundreds, even thousands, of undead had to be overwhelming.

Gathering all that energy into a single blow could be catastrophic.

“Get down!” Ealdic shouted.

Immediately, Abad pulled his wife and daughter and dragged them into cover.

Is it planning to destroy the city!?

“Daddy, Mommy, no, no…”

“I have no other choice.”

Ealdic took a step forward.

He swallowed inside his helmet as cold sweat ran down his entire spine. The effects of Dark Heart were still active and ready for battle.

“Listen, Ealdic. Dragonfire is an element that goes beyond nature. Mastering it requires practice, discipline, and above all, the untamable soul of a dragon. This technique is the ultimate art of our Order. With it, we shall carve our way through history and protect the mortal kingdoms for all eternity. But be careful. Once you use it, you will be unable to wield the power of dragons for an entire month. So use it only when it is strictly necessary.”

All or nothing!

“Dragon Magic: Dragonfire!”

The entire village rumbled from its foundations. Seconds later, a golden radiance covered the orichalcum adventurer.

The warrior’s blade took on a dark hue, while the runes covering the weapon were bathed in draconic mana. He mixed both currents at the risk of losing everything through a single miscalculation.

Even so, Ealdic did not retreat.

He did not even think of fleeing to save his own life.

“Dark Magic: Judgment!”

On the other hand, the Malum’s inhuman voice also deafened the adventurer and the terrified family. Without warning, a purple sphere appeared in front of the monster. At first, it was the size of a soccer ball, but then it grew until it reached a meter and a half in diameter.

“Now!”

Ealdic fired a powerful black beam straight toward the abomination’s chest. It answered with its sphere loaded with chaotic power, in a desperate attempt to extinguish the adventurer’s life.

THUD.

Both forces collided.

They formed two enormous whirlwinds that destroyed everything in their path: houses, towers, concrete, roads.

Nothing was left safe.

No structure could withstand that relentless clash of powers.

Not even the poor family tavern.

Even so, Ana paid no attention to it.

Why should she?

Right before her eyes, one of the grandest and most terrifying events an ordinary person could ever witness was taking place.

In a certain way, she was fortunate to be the witness of such a battle.

“AAAAHHHHHHH!”

The collision continued intensely while dozens of rays shot out in every direction.

Their powers were evenly matched.

Fifty-fifty.

“Come on! Dragonfire at maximum power!”

Beyond his limits.

Beyond the pain.

Ealdic gathered even more energy inside his body and, without considering his own safety, released it in a single movement. The poor adventurer felt his muscles tear apart. The impenetrable dragonsteel armor suffered a deep gash in the middle of the breastplate, and even the helmet covering his face cracked.

“You can do it!”

Driven by Ana’s encouragement, Ealdic surpassed his limits and doubled the spell’s strength even further. By that point, he had reached the level of a true hero. Such power had not been seen since the legendary age, when sacred champions wielded divine energy to answer in the name of the forgotten gods.

Dragonfire versus Judgment.

Judgment versus Dragonfire.

In this colossal clash, there could only be one winner…

“AAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!”

And finally, the draconic power surpassed the Malum’s black magic.

The imposing beam consumed the purple sphere and then pierced through the enemy’s body. Of its flesh, bones, and purple skin, nothing remained. Only a pile of ashes fell to the ground without any resistance.

It was over.

Ealdic remained standing without moving a single muscle. His body hurt far too much, and his expression inside the helmet was a mystery. The family did not celebrate either.

How could they?

Their home had been reduced to ashes, and they certainly had not yet processed the battle they had witnessed.

Mythic.

There was no other word to describe such a duel.

In the collective memory, the Malum were invincible monsters. Entities that had destroyed the great empires and whose very existence was synonymous with apocalypse. Seeing one fall before their eyes meant something enormous.

Or at least, that was what they thought.

.　　　　.　　　　.

There was no time to smile or run to the castle.

Ealdic returned to his combat stance, unable to believe what was happening before his eyes.

The purple ashes moved on their own and then, without any apparent explanation, gathered together again until they recovered the appearance of the enemy Malum. It had no wounds, nor any sign of having fought less than fifteen seconds ago. It looked as fresh as a daisy and ready to resume the battle.

“U-Uh, this is absurd.”

Ealdic had killed Malum monsters in the past. They were not immortal as people believed, nor could they regenerate at that speed. He had turned the thing into ashes. He had left no mana available for such an action.

And yet, the beast had returned to life as if it had never died.

“SSSSSSSSSSSSSS.”

The vibrating hiss forced Ealdic to step back.

Using Dragonfire had completely exhausted his draconic energy. At that moment, he had only his training, battle instinct, and human mana left.

Insufficient resources to face such a monster.

“What the hell are you? You are not a Malum.”

“A-Adventurer.”

Ana hesitated as she spoke. A wild idea came to her mind. It was a moment of clarity in the middle of panic. Not even she was sure she wanted to open her mouth.

“I-It’s like you’re fighting a zombie.”

“A zombie… Oh.”

Then he understood.

Perhaps too late.

Zombies were truly troublesome in large numbers, especially because of their absurd regenerative power. This was achieved thanks to an external source of black magic—necromancy—provided by its user.

In other words, the spell came from the outside, not from within. No matter how many times they destroyed the puppet body, as long as the necromancer still had energy, they could raise bodies indefinitely.

“S-So, this Malum is a zombie…”