The Ruined Death Knight
chapter-373-30041322

For now, though, he wasn't keen to torture souls.

He instead went to read the other talents, which came out to be the most unique ones.

Of why he had the [Devil Slayer] talent unlocked can only be for one reason only.

And that was from killing the devil that was on the deserts of Azur'rah. Honestly, he only managed through luck.

Looking back at it, the devil came to his tower pretty injured, as such a monstrosity couldn't possibly have a total of 20 000 health.

The talent overall only would give him a suppressing aura towards devils, which would lower their stats by 1-30% depending on strength difference. Making him ignore this talent completely.

After all, through the 5 years, he only saw 2 devils.

One is a monstrosity and the other is trapped or fused in a spear.

The following next talent he also gained because of his "achievement" in killing a devil of the 4th-tier while inside a tower he considered home.

...Even if he used the tower itself to kill the devil.

The talent itself was good too, as it would increase his natural mana regeneration by a total of 300% inside his owned tower.

Alas, he couldn't make use of it.

'Maybe If I upgrade my [Stone Wall] and focus on shaping stone just like Velkir did, I could raise my own tower from the earth.' Danzel considered the idea for a bit before putting his attention on the other talent.

He still planned on doing that and turning his spell [Stone Wall] into an "earth shaping" skill or something that is for building and focusing his [Wall of Bones] to be his wall spell instead.

[Minor Fire Resistance] was a really bitter talent to see in the options.

As it suggested that he was burned and engulfed so much in flames that the status found reason to unlock a resistance talent for it.

Though he couldn't blame the magic caster for learning fire magic, after all, he himself started learning fire magic on his own.

It was one of the basic elements which were destructive that even 1st-tier spells were a threat to the 2nd-tier combatants.

He considered buying it, but he decided to put it on hold even if it made his body 15% more resistant to fire. The reason for his decision was that currently, he was in a place where fire wouldn't be 100% as effective.

So for now it is put on hold.

[Warmonger] was also under the same situation.

A good talent, but specifically focused on a task that isn't that good in his current situation.

The talent itself would raise his presence in a fight with 2000 beings' presence by 1-50% based on his kill count and his overall stats of 10% when he fought in basic wars.

He sure wished that he had this talent a few months ago, alas, this talent now is pretty pointless and a waste of XP if he gets it.

The next talent was quite special.

[Apprentice of Death King].

A talent that referred to him, as the apprentice and the Death King, his teacher, Velkir.

And as one would suspect, that talent was entirely focused on necromancy and the undead. By itself, it would strengthen all types of the undead under his influences by 10% and strengthen all his death-stunned skills by 25%. Additionally, the aura of death that he naturally let out would be increased by 20%.

An absurd powerful talent that is on par with his other stronger talents.

An easy choice.

[Cursed Banner] was in turn on the weirder side.

The talent focused on his curse magic and it simply extended the range that the curse can work and the duration that the curses work when out of his range.

It was quite good but also pointless in a way.

As a meele-focused combatant, if he were to let his enemies go so far as the curse duration is starting to tick, he might as well lose them.

He put the talent under consideration depending on the new curses that he can get.

As for the next 3 talents, Danzel wasn't sure how to feel about them, as they all came from doing a single task.

Killing a king of a kingdom.

[King Slayer], [Royal Assassin], and [Death between Plainsight] were probably from that.

A slayer who killed a king, which in turn was an assassination. And as a king is a royalty, thus the talents of [King Slayer] and [Royal Assassin]

And as he used him [Soul Ender] to kill that king while he was in front of him, the [Death between Plainsight] came to be.

At the very least that was his guess.

And out of the 3, only one caught his attention.

That being [Death between Plainsight].

All that [King Slayer] did was to make him more intimidating in front of someone of a socially higher position. [Royal Assassin] in turn would reduce his presence on people with high social positions.

Though [Death between Plainsight] increased the strength of abilities that go unnoticed by the naked eye, which included [Grasp of the Undying] and [Soul Ender].

Though the bonus was 10%, he still went ahead and got the talent.

The next two talents he guessed came from him becoming a 4th-tier undead that wields a sword and a shield.

[Feared Existence] were generally what 4th-tier beings were, but as an undead was pretty much hostile by default, many would fear an undead 4th-tier.

It increased all fear-attunned effects by 15%, which wasn't that bad.

If he managed to find a nice helmet and improve the [rune of Intimidating will], it sure will be useful, spending another 1 000 000 XP.

[Feared Existence]: 1 000 000 XP

[Knight that Deals with Death] in turn was one of the more unique ones that could be activated.

What it did was raise those that he kills into an undead called [Dying Soldier], which had a lesser ability of this talent, which whoever they kill would in turn become a [Skeleton] or a [Zombie].

The [Dying Soldier] was a 2nd-tier undead, which he didn't find much of the charm for.

Though manual, he already could raise undead minions or "craft" them as living armors. Sure, this talent made it free, but he didn't see it being worth 1 000 000 XP.

The last talent though was more of the bizarre ones as the description...was small.

[Ancient Taboo of Death]: A soul that resisted Death more that one time, grants the soul to be able to persist in [???] better.

Though he couldn't be 100% sure what [???] actually meant, based on his other skills, [???] probably referred to the Realm of the Dead.

He pondered for quite a while whether he should get it or not, but in the end, he decided to get it.

Though it wouldn't make him stronger, Danzel knew that assurance was indeed in the case he died.

He did an awful lot in the last months.

'I should start planning in case I die for real' He thought to himself.

'Nersan'rah's soul managed to survive in the Realm of the Dead for decades if not centuries long despite having not a single ability that allowed him to. If he could do it, so can I.' Danzel thought as he closed the status window.

[You acquired Arisen from Death]

[You acquired User of Dark Arts]

[You acquired Magical Talent]

[You acquired Death between Plainsight]

[You acquired Feared Existence]

[You acquired Apprentice of Death King]

[You acquired Ancient Taboo of Death]

And in instant, his wallet was cut in half mercilessly.

'Let's test them out...' Danzel thought as he brought out one of the books that Velkir gave him about necromancy.

The rest of the night, he spends readying about necromancy.

And surprisingly, the content was...much easier to understand than he remembered.

To the point that made him feel that his previous him was... dump.

***

Morning arrived through those frozen lands.

Danzel brought out the haired buffalos' meat and cooked it on the fire. And once Shiro ate two full plates, they left with the 2 living armors behind them.

And after several hours of walking, unluckily for them, thought more about Shiro.

A storm started to appear.

"Why now!?" Shiro complained as the flying snow hit her face constantly.

"Hmm, I do have some helmets in my storage ring, interested?" Danzel said in his cold voice.

"A helmet? Don't you realize how cold your armor is for you to ask? If I were it my whole head will be frozen!" Shiro said as she put her hand in front of her face to block the snow from getting in her eyes.

Achieving in protecting her eyes, but her hand in turn started to be assaulted by the snow.

"Is that so? Maybe my helmet is made out of bones. Or maybe a mask would be better?" Danzel thought as he suddenly halted his step, resulting in Shiro almost back.

"Why did we stopped walk-"

Before she could finish, the two living armors, Niyuki and Koji raised their swords and stand in front of Shiro.

Their blades pointing at the newly arrived beings

*Grrrghhhh~!

Wolfs with white fur surrounded them.

The larger ones had bulging muscles were the smaller wolfs looked quite skinny.

And one of the smaller wolfs that one could see his rib, stood in front of Danzel, baring his teeth at him.

"Starved wolves seeking meat in those frozen lands." Danzel said while glaring at the wolf in front of him.

"R-Rue...what are we going to do?" Shiro said as she went closer to Danzel while gathering her mana into her arms.

Without answering, Danzel simply drew his sword and pointed at the wolf in front of him.

Such action made all the wolfs tense up and wait to jump on Shiro once the skeleton made his move.

But what happend next, none of them expected it.

The wolf in front of Danzel...

Fell to the ground, motionless.

*Ghhh~?

"Come." Danzel said to Shiro as he walked towards the fallen wolf.

He bent and touched the collapsed wolf, and in an instant, its body disappeared into nothingness. Making the rest of the wolfs jump back in fright.

"D-Did you killed it? H-How?" Shiro asked, understanding that the disappearance of the body was because of their storage ring of his.

"Death magic." Danzel said before staring as he raised his head to see somewhere that they could go higher from here.

"Let's go there. We will be able to see what is around this land up higher." Danzel said as he continued walking, forcing Shiro to follow suit.

"What about the wolfs...? They still follow us." Shiro said as the wolfs stalked them while hiding in the winter storm.

"Let them follow, they aren't a threat. Even if I kill them, my spatial storage rings wouldn't able to fit all of them." Danzel said.

As someone who dealt with much death, he knew that the dead spoil faster than the living.