The Abomination melded itself onto the grass plains above like a slime, and formed itself again with some effort. It solidified itself again completely after reaching the top.

Raising another screech, it started to give chase with its newly formed humanoid body. It was a scene that reminded Kuro about the story of David and Goliath.

"RRAAAAAAAWGHHHH!!!"

Standing before them, it had entered its enraged state from Enrage Blood.

Kuro looked at it coldly. He bit his tongue to register pain strong enough to keep himself calm again.

"...Do you have a plan?"

Lestia narrowed her eyes, hiding behind Kuro worriedly. Even now, she was still shaking. She had decided to fight, but she could not clear her traumas this easily.

Without hesitating, Kuro opened his mouth to direct his next move.

"Lestia."

"...Yes."

"Get us some distance from that thing with the worm. We'll have to do a tactical retreat."

Soma nodded in response to that decision, and Lestia agreed as well. She was feeling the same aura Kuro had when they had first met. Kuro had returned to an extremely logical state of mind, and both of them knew that they could count on their Master when it mattered.

Immediately, Soma and spread her wings on her back widely.

"Master, I'll buy time-"

"No, we'll go together."

Lestia's heart almost lurched out of her chest. Although... she really didn't have a heart.

Without hesitating, L'althukul pounced away from the slow-moving Abomination with the trio riding on its back, dodging a heavy blow in the process.

The loud explosion of the plains accompanied a dust cloud. The debris dropped down to the caves below.

Tunnel Worms were generally fast when moving underground using Burrow, but now that it was slithering on a surface, it had its movement speed reduced by more than half. As a result, it did not shake off much distance from the Abomination that was still chasing after them. The punches and cleaving attempted by the Abomination were all extremely close, so much so that the trio could feel the wind pressure against them each time it took a swing down.

"How do we beat that thing?!"

Fortunately, when in an enraged state, it could no longer use spells and throw out the sword skills at them. It seemed as if the emotions of its hosts held priority over its spell usage, and it had no way to use them intelligently in combat.

But the damage was more than enough to be lethal if any of them took a hit up front.

Booooooommmm!!!

Another blow was delivered and missed.

Lestia could hear the distinct sound L'althukul was making whenever it was injured. The brutal melee attacks had created shockwaves that was beginning to injure the monster.

Health 430/7,000 Mana 150/900

"A little more, give me a little more time...!!!"

"I'm trying!!! Master, quickly! That thing is tough...!!!"

Soma was actively trying to use Blade Current and Breakmoon to push it back too, but it seemed as if its defenses had been hardened even more and her MP usage would be dried very quickly if she wanted to stall it any longer.

Without wasting any time from its sacrifices, Kuro activated Status Check.

Name Soma de Eschtalier (Soma Suzuhara) Level 87 Unused SP 2 Rank 8 Race Human / Demon Gender Female Occupation Adventurer Alignment Holy / Chaos Class Sword Mage / Vampire Health 8,300/9,000 (+5,000) Mana 24,035/46,656(+41,655/41,655)(+5,000) Strength 9,800 (+5,000) Dexterity 8,677 (+5,000) Luck 44 (-5,000) Intelligence 3,65 (-5,000) Defense 5,168 (-5,000)(+5000) Magic Defense 2,130 (-5,000)(+5000) Equipment Sword of Bloodwell, Grimlock's Armor, Necklace of Light, Soles of Hermes

items [Item Pouch]

9/12

Black Dragon's Scale [2], Decorated Seashell [3]

Intermediate Skill Scroll (Earth Sphere) [4], Intermediate Skill Scroll (Translocation) [2], Advanced Skill Scroll (Blank) [1], Empty Flask [7],Nana Fruit [3]

Serrated Steel Two-Handed Sword [1], Lucky Star Bracelet [1]

Traits Combat Reflexes, Revenger, Submissive, Haemophobic, The Possessive Nature of Rien Tokuzaki (Transferred by Will Merge LV1) Titles Dragon Slayer, The One who Detests, Goblin Killer, Orc Killer, Fortress Protector, Savior of the World, The One who Heals Plagues, The Hated, Sword Saint, Villager, Reincarnated One, Mentally Slaved, Mana Overlord, Mana Addict, Grunt Worker, Brood Mother, Miracle of a Goddess, Sword of Maiea, Vlad Red, Blood Addict, Vampire, Indiscriminate Extinction Hunter, Murderer, Thief, Desensitized Human, Accursed Wielder of a Demon Blade, Blade Orchestrator, Combo Specialist, Logical Mind, Demon King Candidate Passive Skills

Repulse Beast LV1, Sword Mastery LV MAX, Ignore Inertia LV3, Poison Resistance LV5, Mind Resistance LV1, Fire Resistance LV5, Ice Resistance LV5, Tracking LV3, Cooking LV2, Weapon Appraisal LV8, Presence Awareness LV7, Spatial Awareness LV8, Numbed Body Sense LV-4, Blood Oath LV10, Aspect of an Unholy

Active Skills

Status Check, Breakmoon, Blade Current, Clear Eyes of a Saint, Cutting Edge, Sword Dance, Sword Lunge, Cross-slash, Sword Rain, Sword Summon, Sword Field, Harden Sword, Diamond Dust, Blade Whirlwind, Lightspeed Thrust, Battle Roar, Status Cure, Singular Skill Manipulation, Nightvale, Summon Household, Origin, Book of Blood Knights

Foreign Elements

Mana Drugworm, Chaos Serum

...I see...

Kuro finally understood Soma's weird condition.

"Master?"

Feeling the wind and flowing hair strands against her face from riding the Silvain Worm, Soma squinted her eyes and tried to look at her Master's expression.

Soma's sudden change wasn't because of her Origin. She had changed because of... Bloodwell.

Title: Demon King Candidate Inherited from the demonic spirit of Bloodwell, Shi'rah.

Book of Blood Knights. This was her Origin.

[Origin] Book of Blood Knights

[The effects of this Origin has not been recorded yet.]

...I can't see it... do we use it... or not...

Kuro was having second thoughts, now that he realized that some things shouldn't be tried if he didn't know the effects of them. He had experienced a few close calls since coming to this world whenever he did something he was unfamiliar with. After all, he wasn't as adaptable to life-threatening situations like White. He was more of a tactician who made use of existing objects and powers.

Even now, he was considering the items in both Lestia and Soma's inventory. In particular, he was trying to consolidate the healing items and the skill scrolls Soma had in her possession.

One of them was labelled: Translocation, and it could be useful to escape in a clutch situation if someone else besides Soma got caught. But he wasn't sure how to use the skill scroll, even though he had read the effects contained in it. These intricacies in item usage was not understood by him, so he didn't want to choke up in some situations where he could not afford to choke up.

He thought that he should sit down sometime with Soma and Lestia, and figure out the mechanics of battle in this world in the future.

Translocation LV2

Consumes 50 MP to create a request window for a selected party member to teleport to the user's location.

In the case of inactivity after 1 day of given the window for a teleportation request, the request for Translocation will be cancelled.

But as he noticed that they would be staying at a disadvantage if they continued like this, Kuro quickly made up his mind. He would try to adapt if things went sour.

Even though this kind of thinking was naive in this world, he ultimately decided to trust his own capabilities.

"-Alright, Soma do it!"

"...Un!"

Soma leapt down from L'althukul's back while it was still moving, and landed with Bloodwell stabbed onto the ground with a kneel.

Kuro and Lestia turned their heads immediately to witness the nature of her Origin. L'althukul turned around in a full 180 in response and was now facing the charging Abomination head on.

"Delay: Harden Sword! Sword Field!"

Kneeling down, with her hands on the grip of the sword, Soma shut her eyes tightly as a few swords appeared around Bloodwell like a fence. She had used that as a wall to block an incoming punch.

CRASH!

The swords that were summoned immediately broke into smithereens except the Sword of Bloodwell that stayed intact, but the impact had been dulled and Soma received a little less damage.

During the delay from that attack, Soma started to concentrate.

Four tall bookshelves suddenly appeared from the ground and surrounded Soma.

It was recreating the scenery she and Rien once shared.

But she only stayed silent for a brief moment.

Slapping her cheeks hard once, she moved her arms forward in the direction of one of the shelf.

A book levitated out and floated towards her extended palm slowly.

"...One book, is all I can manage for now. A book... about knights... and their heroic tale. ...My desire to live in their worlds... to relive their stories."

Soma flipped open the hard cover of the silvery book. As she closed her eyes, the pages started to flip violently. It was trying to reach the end of the story. A bright ray of light blasted out from the contents of the book, as if trying to release something magical from within.

-But she closed the book shut before it did, and threw it high above her head to begin her chant.

"-Words of legend and fantasy, blur the fabric of reality to conduct thy Knight Oath.

Book of Blood Knights, activate!"

The book burnt into nothingness in mid-air when the incantation had been completed.

A split second later, the book reappeared in Soma's right hand like an activated tome.

A puddle of blood formed on the ground, and slowly raised itself into a human shape.

An oppressive figure stood in front of her, clad in polished silver armor. It glistened during the moonlight that never seemed to lose its shine in the night.

Its head was the only portion not covered by its golden armorplates, and was covered by a number of talismans stuck untidily on its forehead like a visor protecting the eyes. It looked like a jiangshi in Chinese myths. Although it was debatable whether it had eyes anymore as the talismans had sunk into its eye sockets, implying that it had none.

Its pale white skin reminded Kuro that Soma's nature as a vampire now might have affected her Origin in some way. Perhaps, this summoned knight was supposed to be alive instead of looking like a zombie.

It had its back facing Soma, so she could not see its expression when it was summoned.

She felt a sudden rush of fatigue overwhelming her. It seemed as if her Origin had taken a large amount of MP to use.

The System's voice formed in her head.

Origin has been activated successfully.

"Blood Knight Gawain" has been summoned for 50,000 seconds.

A blue screen appeared in front of her, as she continued gasping for air. The side effects of overusing her MP always left her feeling like this as it had been supplied to her superficially through the Mana Drugworm.

Blood Knight Gawain

Named familiar, created by Book of Blood Knights: Arthurian Legend (This character cannot be summoned again). Has a continuous decay status which reduces its HP by 500 every 5 seconds.

Equipment

Galatine

The 'shadow to Excalibur’s light’.

Weapon Type Two-Handed Class: Legendary Attack: 4,000 Attack speed: 2 Attribute: Light, Holy Durability: 455/455 Passive: Sunlit Glory Attack speed is raised to 5 when under the sunlight.

Gawain's Glory

A set of golden armor that is said to cover the user with the veil of victory.

Armor Type Full Armorplate Class: Legendary Defense: 4,000 Attribute: Light Durability: 2,433/2,433 Passive: Higher Honor Resists projectile attacks that are Rank 5 or below.

[Untamed]

Level 90 Type Light / Undead Class Blood Knight Health 11,500/12,000 Mana 0 Strength 24,000 Dexterity 15,000 Luck 9,000 Intelligence 0 Defense 24,000 Magic Defense 0 Passive Skills Sword Mastery LV MAX, Mental Resistance LV4, Ignore Inertia LV 8, Spatial Awareness LV MAX, Stance of Gawain, Decaying Life Active Skills Blade Reaper, Light Weaving

"Aaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!"

Gawain roared, shaking the earth with its thunderous voice. It ground its teeth in agitation, as if it had realized that someone had summoned it without permission.

The Abomination had caught up as the three had stopped running away from it. Without waiting for them to recover, it flung its axe arm towards Gawain, attempting to crush it quickly like a fly.

The sound of steel reverberated in the air.

With a single slash to protect itself, that arm was lopped off like a twig.

It fell down to the ground, and disintegrated into a black solution like charred ashes instead of reforming itself back. The Abomination screeched loudly in pain and attempted to use its healing effects.

But it didn't work, even after the yellow magic circles had appeared. It seemed as if the steaming open wound could not be healed.

"This is... a success?"

Kuro was surprised that the Book of Blood Knights was actually a summon skill. He was currently looking at the Status Window of Gawain, and felt that he might have worried too much. Soma was, a wielder of tremendous power and determination, so her Origin would respond appropriately in turn.

Ruler had once said that only individuals who had the potential to achieve godhood could receive their Origins, so they were definitely abilities that could not be scoffed at.

The Blood Knight Gawain seemed to have damaged it permanently, and Kuro knew that Soma had succeeded.

Kuro hopped off the worm which had stopped from Lestia's order, and made a remark as he landed clumsily. Lestia quickly got off as well and L'althukul coiled around her in response.

"Ack... You've gotten something good huh! ... Huh...?"

...But then, it didn't give chase and continue attacking. It was as if that attack earlier was due to self-defense, and that wasn't Gawain's original intentions from the start. It turned around slowly, revealing its zombie-like posture to them. Lestia, who had been watching silently all this while, immediately felt something amiss.

The aura around the Blood Knight Gawain...

"?! Master... that... that is an undead... it isn't a passive monster...!!!"

Realizing something from those words, Kuro felt the incompatibility of its actions as well.

"Soma!!! Order it to stop moving towards us!"

"I... I can't!"

Huh?

He saw Soma's right hand holding the tome starting to form red and purple veins. It was slowly rotting her skin starting from the open tome.

"It's... it's not listening to me...!!!"

Soma grimaced with trembling fingers holding onto the tome. Her other hand was holding onto the handle of Bloodwell stabbed onto the ground, but it seemed as if she could not use her skills in this condition.

Her Origin was defective after all.

Tch! Is it the side effect of Bloodwell's interference?!

Gawain locked onto its defenseless summoner and immediately broke into a charge. It opened its mouth and shouted with rage.

"Auuuuuuuuuuurggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!"

"!!! Lestia! Defense!"

Using the remains of her low volume of MP left, she went forward to block for Kuro and Soma.

"Harden Skin!"

A sharp shrill resounded from the impact of Gawain's sword.

Lestia felt the pain from that attack in full. In fact, she had been starting to regain her sense of pain ever since a while back. Galatine cut a little deep into her arm she had put up to defend against it. She groaned and quickly pushed it back with a slime arm forming from her chest. Gawain noticed it quickly from its sensitive reflexes and pulled back its sword and leapt backwards for a moment to dodge it, but it returned right in front of her just as fast to retaliate.

-She was not ready, and was caught off guard from its inhuman agility.

"Wh- Kuaaahhhh!!!"

Lestia choked for a moment as Gawain landed a clean kick on her abdomen. She flew a few meters back from that attack.

"Lestia!"

Adding to the turn of events, the Abomination started to channel its flame-imbued missiles again from within its body. It had decided to blast everything close to it to preserve its life.

"M-Masterrr, it's... it's going to attack...!"

Lestia stood up quickly, and looked at the impending attack of their original opponent with horrified eyes.

...Ah!

Within his rapidly-turning mind, Kuro quickly found the way out.

The blood knight retracted its kick a while ago and had proceeded for its original target; Soma with incredible speed. It had not even registered Kuro as an enemy, probably because it felt that he had no actual combat values to stop it.

But Kuro used this chance to tackle it from the side.

Gawain immediately noticed him coming from the side with its Spatial Awareness, but it was petrified suddenly and stopped moving.

"Spectral Cowling!"

It was but a few seconds he could continue to control something like this, Kuro felt that its Mental Resistance LV4 was taking its effect on his ability to induce fear.

Without wasting any time, Kuro shouted out.

"Control Gawain!"

"!"

Lestia instantly understood her Master's intentions.

She had never tried to overwrite control of a summon, but she didn't hesitate.

Lestia could have escaped at this point, but she extended her fingers towards the Blood Knight instead. She planned to fight, and support her Master.

Gawain roared loudly like a savage, and broke free from its state of fear. Noticing that the missiles fired from the Abomination's body was approaching them indiscriminately, it put up its arm and created a spell circle. Instead of killing off Kuro who had quickly leapt backwards right after realizing that Spectral Cowling no longer worked, Gawain was attempting to use its ability to stop the incoming damage.

Soma heard the System again, so did Kuro who was connected through her with the slave connection.

Summon: [Blood Knight Gawain] has activated Blade Reaper LV MAX.

Blade... Reaper?!

A white aura formed around Gawain quickly, and slowly turned into grey... and then black. It formed the shape of a wraith with a scythe and draped in a dark purple cloak. It was a Reaper with miasma as its face, suspending behind Gawain; an aura of doom was emitted from the intangible shroud at the bottom of the cloak.

All of the missiles were deflected as the Reaper swung its scythe quickly, imitating the motion of a Blade Whirlwind. Except that the Reaper was actively moving around Gawain to slice apart the hands fired out from the Abomination's body.

As if losing their effectiveness, the flames were put out the moment it came in contact with the steel of the rapidly-moving scythe, and plopped down onto the grass patches into a slob. But this time, these detachable parts that were cut off cleanly by the effects of Blade Reaper were slowly floating and returning to the Abomination, which had been simultaneously casting Advanced Heals on itself to rejuvenate its lost parts.

Before long, the barrage stopped, and Lestia didn't hesitate to use her abilities as a Summoner and Necromancer.

"Induce Passiveness!"

Simultaneously, Taming Mastery LV MAX and Monster Affinity LV5 was applied.

"Now... fall into my control, berserk one!"