The Ruined Death Knight

Upon Danzel's late request, Agares decided to leave Shiro to sleep in their room while he went ahead to Danzel's room to watch over the runesmithing process.

Though it would be more convenient for him to simply give his sword to Danzel for the night, Agares went ahead and requested to watch from the side.

As for the reason, Danzel wasn´t too sure but he still accepted the old man's request.

His best guess was that either Agares didn´t trust him or that he treasured his sword too much to let others lay fingers on the scythe sword.

As for having his runesmithing secrets found out, Danzel didn´t worry too much. Although one could mimic the movement of his hand and also the symbol of the rune, the secret that made the rune work was a delicate control over mana, in an extremely specific way.

He was confident that one couldn´t see through it even if one stared at the processes more than one time. Albeit he would be much more hesitant if the one watching was someone like Velkir, a magic caster that probably lived more than a few centuries.

So for someone like Agares who was a swordsman, he didn´t mind much.

Once he reached his room, Danzel went right ahead and started carving while Agares watched him with curiosity and worry.

They didn´t have to discuss what kind of rune Danzel was going to carve as they had already discussed it. And since the scythe sword had a much greater length than even his great sword, Danzel found room to carve a total of 4 runes!

`It will be my first time carving 4 runes into a single item...´ Danzel thought slightly excited that making his previous headache go away.

He would even be more enthusiastic if the runes that Agares wanted weren´t for the most part, of [Common] rarity except a [Uncommon] rune and the [Rune of Harvest]. Making the scythe sword in the end to have 2 [Common], 1 [Uncommon], and lastly 1 [Epic] rune.

The two common runes were respectively one that enchanted the sharpness of the sword itself, while the other runes increased the sword toughness,

Both of those runes turned out as the [Perfect] quality, improving the sword's intended purpose to much greater heights.

Such runes were enough to make a butter knife into a sharp and sturdy dagger that could easily pierce through leather armor. But that was about it.

As the [Common] runes were mostly passive effects and rather normal, Danzel didn´t find them fitting to be carved in high-end equipment.

But Danzel understood Agares decision.

Both of those runes were nice and simple.

Agares even said that he was fine with those two runes alone, but through Danzel's suggestion, he gave in and let him carve the third rune, called [Rune of Bleedreach].

Such rune was basically a much inferior version of his current [Cursed Wounds Blade]

It essentially made any mana attacks that inflicted injuries to be harder to heal and that was about it.

The runes inflicted neither accelerated decay, pain nor bleeding. It just made the healing effects on others to be much harder to heal a wound.

The rune was of the [Good] quality, which made the effect only so-so. Usually, he could make [Uncommon]runes of the [Well-done] quality, but since this was one rune that he hadn´t practiced much, it turned out of the [Good] quality.

As for the last rune, it was obviously the [Rune of Harvest].

And in the end, the scythe sword turned out to be a better version of itself and nothing more.

Though he found it slightly disappointing, in the end, he didn´t care as long as the [Rune of Harvest] was engraved in the sword.

By the time he finished the 4 runes, the sun had already risen.

"Here you got your sword." Danzel said before giving Agares the sword back.

Observing the newly engrave runes on his sword, Agares nodded toward Danzel.

"You have my gratitude, Danzel."

Hearing that, Danzel passed beside him.

"If you are really that thankful, then you can write down some of your techniques for me to practice on a piece of paper or something the next time we meet. It´s more convinced that me seeking you in the night." Danzel said without waiting for Agare's answer.

Hearing that, Agares frowned for a split second, before going toward his room.

Like many other people, writing their techniques was looked down as if such information was to spread, then someone that the owner didn´t deem worthy would be able to learn it if one of course had the talent to learn the technique, to begin with.

Though such a thing was much more common for those who practice a martial art or any sort of weapon art than for magic scrolls.

Even the most greedy magic caster who didn´t care about such a thing found selling their spells quite disdainful. At the very best they would sell spells of the 2nd-tier to customers that were to be trusted.

For Danzel, the value of magic scrolls and written techniques was much greater as he could learn them instantly

`Let´s hope that he will at least write something.´ Danzel thought before going where they first once gathered.

There he found Vanessa the dark elve seating in the stone cubes with her legs crossed together.

"Hey! Rue Danzel! I thought you wouldn´t come!" Vanessa yelled while waving her hand towards him.

Seeing that, Danzel shook his head helplessly before seating in one of the seats.

"Though it´s already here since master Velkir has a barrier, please don´t call me by my name outside...The others know me as Abdiel." Danzel said with a hint of worry.

`Won´t this girl expose me the second she goes out?´ He thought to himself.

"Baah! Do you take me for an idiot!? I know at least that much!" Vanessa said while turning her head and ignoring Danzel's existence.

Danzel didn´t mind that and waited for a few minutes before looking at Vanessa.

"By the way, when will Velkir come? And what mission will be going to? All I know is what you told me yesterday and nothing more."

Glancing at Danzel with a disdainful look, Vanessa said.

"Velkir should be coming by any time soon, Abdal. As for what the mission is I also got no clue." She said before turning her head away.

`It´s Abdiel, not Abdal...´ Danzel thought, feeling his worries increasing.

At first, he expected Velkir to appear in a few minutes, but it was only after an hour that Velkir came to meet them.

"It seems like Vanessa informed you about the mission. Follow me outside you two." Velkir said with his cold voice.

Doing as Velkir said, the three went outside.

Skull Claw who was as usual "guarding" the fort, immediately became excited upon seeing her liege coming outside.

But once she saw the dark-skinned man was Velkir, she became less enthusiastic.

"Hmm, Danzel, will you be taking this undead with you?" Velkir said as looked at the Death Hound.

Danzel glanced at Skull Claw for a moment before nodding his head.

"If it´s possible with you, I will like for Skull Claw to come." Danzel said while waving Skull Claw to come at him.

With hesitant steps, she went near her liege while keeping an eye on Velkir. With now having a total of three eyes, doing as such proved to be much easier for her.

Velkir did notice Skull Claws's gaze, but he simply ignored it and made his staff appear.

Within the next moment, a huge magic circle appeared around them.

"Hear me well you two, this time around you, Danzel, will be deployed to protect someone while Vanessa will help with the situation that this person is facing. But your priority will be to protect this person's life." Velkir said.

"Protect you say..." Danzel mumbled to himself.

"Though I believe I am more suitable to fight that protect... who is that person that I need to protect?" Danzel asked.

Though as a [Black Guard], he indeed had properties to protect someone, overall, he found himself more suited to fight than to protect.

`I will also have to kill people if I want to ever achieve the mission of becoming a [Death Knight]. Protecting someone would only make the progress of this mission so much slower.´

So being assigned to protect someone slightly displeased Danzel.

Oblivious of Danzel though, Velkir answers his question.

"He is the son and heir of a duke who practices arcane magic. Since he has reached the 3rd-tier and uses a special type of arcane magic, he will be targeted by the enemy army. You will also have to worry about traitors who might want to assassinate him in order to harm the duke. So you will have to worry for both allies and enemies while being there."

"As for you Vanessa, you will be one of the main forces who will help them with the battle. You should focus on preventing strong opponents to reach the duke's son."

Once Velkir finished, the magic circle around them lighten up, engulfing the three in light that in the next moment pierced the sky and transported them to a different location.

Once the light disappeared, Danzel and Vanessa found themself on the top of the castle walls, and in the distance, smoke covered the surroundings and echoes of battle cries could be heard.

The soldier on top of the walls flinched when they saw the three figures together with a huge skeleton hound appear from the seemingly sky and they didn´t hesitate to point their spears at them.

"Every soldier put down their weapons! They are allies!" A robed young man holding a huge blue orb yelled out loud.

Seeing who was speaking, the soldiers put down their weapons.

"He is the one you will need to protect." Velkir whispered to Danzel before handing him a ring in his hand.

`Inside the ring is my part of our deal, with some additional supplies. But I will be expecting the ring back´ Velkir said telepathically to Danzel before glancing at the young man.

"The mercenaries of the Deathfull Skulls have arrived to give support."