Dungeon Hunter - Chapter 135

Chapter 135: Episode 41. The Seven Sins and Oswen, the Blacksmith of Twilight (2)

I had another thought.

When Maxium saw me for the first time, he could recognize me even from far away. The heart of the Hell Lord, which was inside my body, helped Maxium easily recognize me as his emperor. The current situation was similar. I wielded one of the Seven Sins, which was a collection of masterpieces of the Blacksmith of Twilight. The commander had the same name as the blacksmith, but he didn’t seem to recognize me or my sword.

I painted myself with the blood of a Thunder Bird to look like an undead. However, I didn’t think that my disguise would also mask my weapons, such as my sword.

I thought that even though Maxium and Oswen were both commanders, they had differences.

Had the commander recognized my sword when I took it out, I would make him surrender using my other sword, the Sword of the Emperor. However, that scenario didn’t work, and I didn’t want to make any dumb moves.

The commander was a Doom Knight, and he was one of the highest monsters of level two. I would be neck and neck with him, even if I had all the skills and weapons.

The reason why I challenged him into a duel was to check him out—his strength, abilities, weaknesses…

“Many have visited this room and have talked to me. Never had I met anyone as bold as you are to challenge me into a duel.”

“I was originally a mercenary,” I began, “traveling from places to places. I have heard about the great name of the Commander of the South for so long. Your name stirred me with passion. Dullahan Soulram was a piece of cake. If such a weak undead was one of Makdalli’s top 20 undead, the rest would be a piece of cake, too.”

I continued, “Everyone here looks pretty powerful even at the first glance. And I suppose that the leader of the undead in this room would be even more powerful. I believe that the leader deserves my sword.”

I wasn’t used to flattery. However, as I said before, I wanted to check on the commander.

Oswen’s demeanor changed. His frown turned into a surprise, and he nodded his head.

“Makdalli was a foul undead, and he could not charm the undead who were truly strong. You got good eyes. I thought you were one rude monster, but you did catch it right.”

I could learn about Oswen’s character from the way he spoke.

The commander was quite arrogant.

Oswen was generous and confident about himself.

He would also not mind flattery. In fact, the commander rather liked it.

I knew some other monsters and people like him.

I also knew how to treat this kind of people.

“I haven’t heard your answer. Are you going to accept my sword?”

I slightly changed my strategy.

Instead of explicitly stating the word ‘challenge’, I asked him if he would accept my ‘sword’. As a result, what I asked him could have two different meanings.

First, my question could sound like I was challenging him. Second, a positive one, I could sound as though I was offering my allegiance to Oswen, just like how a knight offered his sword to his king.

Despite the vagueness of interpretations, I was sure that Oswen would recognize my words as the latter case. I had been flattering Oswen; I compared Makdalli to Oswen, with Oswen clearly being the stronger fellow, and I bashed Makdalli.

Should I had been just an ordinary monster, others would have questioned my qualifications. However, my victory against Soulram empowered my words.

Makdalli and Oswen were fighting a war against each other. And I, who was a foreigner to them, compared the two and praised Oswen. Oswen must have been proud of himself, and he would choose to interpret my challenge as offering my allegiance to him.

Just like how I thought, Oswen smiled.

“Randalf Bruciel, the new lord of Pavrem, I shall accept your sword. In fact, I have thought about a plan for the undead in the South and their morale. Let us have a duel in a friendly manner.”

Oswen mentioned my name for the first time.

My strategy worked out.

‘Here goes the first step,’ I thought.

Now the next step was confirming if the commander was Oswen, the Blacksmith of Twilight, through the duel.

I shook hands with the commander. Torium and Jeff, who were on the ground, were relieved at the sight.

“Who are you really, my lord? Others might think that you have nine lives to spare,” Torium asked after we were given a quite fancy room to stay.

Makdalli always fought a war that he would win.

He had been launching sudden attacks with an overwhelming number of soldiers, and he had been constantly expanding in the South.

About 15 days had passed since the war broke out. However, no news of victory was heard during that period, and the morale of the soldiers of the South was at its lowest.

Then I stepped in and proved to be victorious. Dullahan Soulram and his army outnumbered my side by a factor of two. Despite the disadvantage, I knocked him off. Furthermore, I killed him in a duel.

It was no surprise that the undead and the soldiers of the South saw me as their savior.

When Oswen told me that he had prepared a plan for the soldiers of the South, he must have implied that I would play a major role in his plan.

I was correct after all. The commander advertised our friendly duel all around the places. Everyone in the fortress came to watch the duel.

Around 20,000 undead gathered to watch us.

“That’s a lot of undead,” I murmured.

It seemed that not only those who lived in the fortress, but also those who lived nearby came to watch the duel.

The duel took place in a building that resembled the Colosseum. The building couldn’t house everyone, and those who couldn’t find any seats were waiting outside, forming a very long line.

Oswen, holding six swords, was in the center of the building. Looking around, he shouted, “Everyone here must have heard about what happened in Pavrem. Although he looks like a zombie, the warrior here defended his land against Dullahan Soulram! With only 400 soldiers, he defeated a thousand enemies. I am quite impressed!”

“Whoa!”

“Randalf! Randalf! Randalf!”

Everyone in the building was chanting my name. Their voices were so loud that my ears hurt.

It had only been 10 days since the battle against Soulram ended. However, the news spread quickly, and a large number of undead already heard the news.

‘Oswen must have disseminated the news quickly on purpose,’ I considered.

There was no way that the news couldn’t have spread so quickly. The rumor could have propagated even before I received the letter from Oswen.

Such a quick dissemination of information showed how desperate Oswen was.

“This amazing warrior was not satisfied with his victory against Soulram and took a step further. He challenged me! And I think he deserves to do so!”

Oswen raised his six swords even higher.

“We are currently at war with Makdalli, but let’s not allow him to dampen our warrior spirits. I want you to enjoy the festival. Enjoy yourselves tonight!”

“Waaa!”

Drinks were distributed among the crowd. The undead didn’t get drunk, and the atmosphere was filled with excitement. The crowd was eager and stared at the arena, where our duel would take place.

When both of us lower our hands and stuck our swords to the ground, the crowd turned silent. Such actions marked the opening of the duel.

However, I had to check something before I began fighting.

“Oswen, the Commander of the South, I have a question for you. What is the true virtue of an emperor?”

“The true virtue of an emperor?”

Oswen couldn’t immediately answer my question.

Despite his hesitation, I was quite determined.

“Please give me an answer.”

Who would have asked him such a question?

After all, Oswen was only a commander, and he worked for the Hell Lord, one of the greatest emperors. And everyone in the Underworld was aware of this hierarchy.

Unfortunately, the Hell Lord didn’t show up. Due to his absence, factions formed and conflicts between them arose. A series of conflicts led to different factions dispersed from one another. Oswen was a leader of one of the factions.

Oswen insisted on using the title of a commander even though he acted like an emperor. What I could deduce from it was perhaps designating himself as an emperor was still influential and might cause discomfort among the undead of the Underworld and even within his faction.

I knew he wanted to be one although he did not claim himself as one. His desire was evident from his actions; Oswen wanted to open the emperor’s treasure house without the help of other commanders. Only an emperor could do such a thing.

Judging by Oswen’s courses of actions, I believed that the commander must have thought about some important virtues of an emperor.

Therefore, there was no point in beating around the bush, so I went ahead and asked him.

After a while, Oswen spoke, “The true virtue of an emperor is…sloth.”

It was the answer that I wanted to hear.

Oswen’s answer resembled the explanation of one of my armor, which was Sloth. Sloth was a cape, and it was also one of the Seven Sins, which was a collection of masterpieces of Oswen, the Blacksmith of Twilight.

Thoughts came rushing through my head. ‘The commander’s answer was almost identical to the explanation of my cape, Sloth. He’s also wielding one of the Seven Sins himself. His name is even identical to the legendary blacksmith. All of these are merely coincidence.’

I became confident.

The commander in front of me was indeed Oswen, the Blacksmith of Twilight.

A lot of things needed explaining. He couldn’t remember his life as a blacksmith, and I didn’t know if Oswen was a Doom Knight in the first place. However, the important takeaway was that the commander was the same figure as Oswen the blacksmith.

Deboron once told me that the Spirit King of Darkness did not have all of the Seven Sins. He implied that it would be very difficult to find all of them. Luckily, I found a way to locate the rest.

I could not let this precious opportunity pass.

I felt as though an entire set of puzzle was coming together. Such a feeling gave me the chills.

“Thanks for the answer.”

I took out Rage.

Now whether I won or lost in the duel was not important.

Of course, I would try my best. The duel against Oswen was a good chance to fully test Highendall’s swordsmanship. Who knew? I could find more tactics to master the swordsmanship through this fight.

I asked the question to check if Oswen and the Blacksmith of Twilight were one and the same in any way. However, he must have misunderstood the question.

The commander misconstrued my actions, such as offering my sword and asking the true virtue of an emperor, as swearing an oath of allegiance.

He liked what he understood as an oath of allegiance, and he even bestowed upon me a position of a leader, which could lead up to 2,000 soldiers.

“The position you got is more surprising than what anyone could imagine. Why did the Commander of the South entitle you to that position?”

“I think he’s trying to make me a Hero of the South and use me as a part of his propaganda.”

I was now in the gym inside of the castle.

I didn’t waste any time, and I continued practicing Highendall’s swordsmanship.

Torium was watching me, but he couldn’t even attempt to mimic my skills. After all, swordsmanship at this level was not something that one could simply watch and follow.

“I feel that there could be another intention behind giving you that position. And I am also concerned… Many will disobey your order, my lord. You are a newcomer.”

“I need to let my achievements speak for themselves. Then they will obey me.”

“Are you going to attempt to catch Commander Makdalli or something?”

“That sounds interesting, too.”

Slash!

I swung Rage, and the sword swept through the air quickly.

I was reviewing the duel with Oswen.

Oswen was a Doom Knight, and a Doom Knight was one of the most valuable and strongest monsters in Devildom. Even Archdukes couldn’t easily get one for themselves. And, as I expected, Oswen boasted elaborate sword skills during the duel.

‘There has got to be something special about that glove,’ I thought.

The duel that I had with him was tight, but I did manage to carefully observe him during the fight.

In particular, I took a careful look at Oswen’s glove.

At that time, I believed that his glove could be one of the Seven Sins. And I did feel that the glove was emitting a rather unpleasant type of mana.

The type of mana was similar to what flew in my armor and items when I was stuck in an abnormal state.

It felt unpleasant, and I couldn’t control that type of mana.

“Go and find everything about Commander Oswen’s glove. But be very careful.”

“Is that an order?”

“It is.”

“I will do as I am told.”

Torium bowed his head and exited the gym.

Slash! Slash!

I continued practicing even while I was giving an order to Torium.

Two days later, Torium came back to me while I was meditating.

“They say that Commander Oswen never takes off his glove. It seems that he values his glove more than weapons. He didn’t even want them to touch the water.”

The commander indeed treasured his glove. However, I didn’t think that he valued his glove so much only because it was one of the Seven Sins. After all, the rest of his weapons and armor were great; they were as valuable as the glove.

What caught my attention was the fact that Oswen didn’t want his glove to touch the water. I felt that there could be another reason behind it.

‘But why?’ I contemplated.

I had some research to do. Then I stood up.

“You have done a great job.”

“No problem. It was my pleasure to follow your orders.”

I snickered because Krathra suddenly popped into my mind. Torium resembled Krathra in a way that both of them tried their best and did everything they could do to follow my orders.

“I need to take care of this issue as quickly as I can, and I need to return,” I told myself.

At the same time, I became curious about my dungeons.

I couldn’t predict what would happen in my dungeons or near them.

Oculus’s death must have resulted in a lot of changes, including the broken balance of power.

Other Archdukes could have made moves to expand their territories or influences.

“Ah…I also heard some rumors about Makdalli. He changed his strategy and started engaging in an open war. I believe that you’ll be notified of the news soon…”

“Tomorrow.”

“Huh?”

“They will deploy tomorrow.”

“That is very abrupt.”

“I just received the news. I’m going to check on my soldiers after talking to you.”

About 20 minutes before Torium visited me, a Dark Warrior had come to me and reported the news.

Makdalli’s deployment was indeed abrupt. If I wanted to deploy in a day to counter his attacks, I needed to start moving.

I turned around and came out of the gym.

A thought occurred to me. ‘If I’m returning to Devildom anyway, what’s keeping me from acquiring everything that I can in the Underworld?’

There were things that one could only get in the Underworld.

I couldn’t miss such a great opportunity.

Furthermore, I was improving very rapidly here. I got better every day. Effort alone could not explain such a rapid growth.

I felt that this entire world was somehow helping me grow quickly.

I did not mean to come here, but I did. If I use this opportunity and get the best out of it, I could perhaps dominate other Archdukes when I returned to Earth later.