Return of the Apocalypse Knight

Chapter 22: Corpse Golem

A knight, a combat weapon unlike any other that utilizes the power of mana, a power that didn’t exist in my previous life.

As I remembered my past life, and then fought the demon army, I was very grateful that I was a knight.

I was able to avoid being trampled by others in a fantasy medieval world that was different from my previous life, and I was able to avoid dying in vain to the undead when I fought the demon army.

After I remembered my former life, I grumbled about how I’d landed in this world without any special talents or privileges, but being a free knight was no small gift to me.

Moreover, even though I was unfortunately unable to become a full knight recognized by a high noble, I was proud to be more than a free knight.

Thanks to my numerous battles with the demon army, I was more skilled than most knights at fighting the undead.

As such, I was able to calmly swing my sword in the face of a corpse golem, a demonic trap that even a knight could not handle alone.

-Boom.

The mana-filled sword swung wildly.

For a corpse golem that was over three meters tall and weighed over half a ton, swordplay against humans was meaningless.

In fact, the same was true for other demonic beings, such as skeletons and demons, for whom the home-made swordsmanship I had learned at home was ineffective.

As a result, when I first encountered the demon army, I couldn’t help but falter.

Considering how many knights in my unit were killed at the time, I was lucky not to die right then and there.

However, I quickly put that foolishness to rest.

As we fought the undead and the demon army, I and the other knights created new sword techniques to fight the undead.

Instead of using mana to cut through the armor of the other knight, we used mana to cut through the death energy of the undead, and created sword techniques for dealing with a variety of undead that were skeletal or otherwise not human-like.

A harsh swordplay that was nothing like the beautiful swordplay of humans.

It looked more like the grimy swordplay of a demon hunter.

Swinging my sword, I quickly approached the hulk, but alas, my sword did not touch it.

The corpse golem was too sensitive to my movements for its size.

Along with the fact that it was constructed from a collection of smashed corpses, it was its sensitivity that made it infamous as a trap for the Demon Army.

If I were an ordinary knight, it would have been a surprising move for the opponent’s reaction, but I wasn’t a newbie who would be surprised by such things.

As the sword passed through the air, a long line was drawn across the corpse golem’s thigh.

At the same time, a trickle of blood flowed from the gaping wound. A thick stream of pus-like blood dripped down.

Swinging my sword, I quickly stepped back, returning the mana-enhanced blade to its original state.

I wanted to continue the attack, but since my first strike hadn’t worked, I needed to create distance.

I used my mana to extend the blade and cut the corpse golem, but it was as good as nothing.

I swung with the intention of cutting it in half, but I only managed to cut through its flesh.

-Kaaaah!

As I backed away, the corpse golem let out a scream of pain and rushed at me.

The wound on its thigh was fading in real time, and its agonized screams turned to anger as it charged me.

I sighed as I watched the corpse golem’s wound disappear.

Damned resilience.

Despite not being a troll, the corpse golem used its own corpse body to heal its wounds in an instant before my eyes.

In fact, the corpse golem’s healing was hardly a healing at all.

It simply moved other parts of its body to cover the wound.

For an animal, or even a demon, this would only make the wound worse, but the corpse golem was fine with it.

After all, the corpse golem’s body wasn’t living flesh, just a barrier to keep enemies at bay.

-Boom, boom.

The corpse golem had reached me by now and swung its long arms.

‘Quick!’

I frantically moved my body to dodge the corpse golem’s attack.

I ducked my head to avoid its left arm, which swung sideways, and twisted sideways to avoid its right arm, which slashed downward.

As the corpse golem’s arms passed around me, the stench of rotting flesh filled my nostrils.

It was a smell that would have made me shrink back in horror before I’d fought the demon army, but now it was just plain unpleasant.

Having succeeded in dodging, I swung my sword again.

The corpse golem was close, and this time I was successful.

The corpse golem’s left arm was severed and fell to the floor.

After a scream the arm swings again.

I saw the corpse golem’s right arm fall toward me, and I swung my sword at it.

This time it was only half severed.

The corpse golem saw that its left arm had been severed, so it piled a layer of flesh on its right arm.

-Boom, boom.

The corpse golem continued to swing its half severed arm.

Rotten blood sprayed my body, and the stench of rotting flesh filled the air.

As the golem swung its arm, the half severed arm quickly reattached itself, and the fully severed arm grew longer and longer, returning to its original form.

I sighed inwardly as I realized that no matter how hard I tried to cut it off, it would quickly revert back to its original form.

As I realized every time I fought a corpse golem, the resilience of these undead was a complete cheat.

Its body could regenerate infinitely until it ran out of flesh.

Combine that with the Corpse Golem’s speed, reaction time, and sheer brute strength, and no ordinary knight could stand a chance against this undead creature up close.

You could inflict dozens of mortal wounds and still not die, while a single blow would be fatal…….

In the end, this undead was a foe for a proper party with a mage, cleric, and knight.

However, that was irrelevant to me.

I was just a free knight, but after many fights, I had gained a few abilities that other knights didn’t have.

Mana detection, which allowed me to see the movements of enemies with mana, and a sixth sense, or extrasensory perception, which allowed me to detect the movements of beasts and mere mortals.

These were all survivalist skills, but they were the two abilities that allowed me to sword dance right under the nose of a corpse golem.

-Boom. Boom.

The corpse golem’s arms and legs whizzed past my body at breakneck speed.

I dodged the undead’s attacks with less than a second to spare.

And then, at the first apparent opening, I swung my sword.

Blood splashed and flesh flew.

The wound healed in an instant, but more wounds were made.

The undead were fast and powerful, with an unknowing resilience.

In truth, there was nothing special about the knight’s method of killing these undead.

I simply cut the undead apart until not a single piece of flesh was visible.

It was an ignorant and ridiculous method, but I had taken down several corpse golems with it.

Sure, it felt like a tightrope walk between life and death each time, but with the skills I had, I knew of no better way.

I dodged another attack and plunged my sword into the gap.

Blood gushed out and flesh popped.

This time, the flesh moved and covered the wound from earlier.

I smiled at the sight.

‘It’s getting slow.’

The healing was getting slower and slower.

The wound that had healed in an instant was now showing signs of flesh slowly rising.

The sight brought me back to my senses, and as I examined the corpse golem, I realized that the delay was well deserved.

The flesh, or skin, of the corpse golem had thinned to the point where I could see the bones underneath.

It would be difficult to get flesh from nearby to cover the wound.

If it had to bring flesh from far away, the wounds would be slow to heal.

I continued to fight dodging attacks and swinging my sword.

I don’t know how many minutes I fought like that.

At some point, the corpse golem stopped healing and the wound was left to fester.

No, the corpse golem had no flesh left to heal its wounds.

A corpse golem with no flesh left could no longer be called a corpse golem.

It had become a grotesque skeleton of black human bones, with many other bones attached to them.

With the armor of flesh gone, it wasn’t hard to follow.

The bony undead’s movements and speed were no different than before, but with no armor, it couldn’t block my attacks.

-Puck!

With a swing of my sword, the shoulder blade of the corpse golem shattered along with the other bones.

-Puck!

I then plunged the blade into the undead’s diagonally swinging arm bone, severing the arm and launching myself into the air on my sprawling legs.

When I was about three meters up, the head of a corpse golem appeared in front of my face.

Unlike elsewhere, the head still had flesh on it, and that flesh was embedded with a human face that expressed a myriad of emotions.

I cut off the corpse golem’s face.

The emotions on its face shattered as my blade passed over it.

The corpse golem collapsed with its head severed in half.

I stood there, catching my breath and thankfully, the corpse golem didn’t move again.

The mana I had stored in my sword was enough.

‘I win.’

I caught my breath and replayed the fight.

‘It was easy. Too easy.’

Because of my specialty, I could deal with corpse golems easier than other knights, but not this easy.

There were many close calls, and my skin was shed but this time, I never once felt in danger.

It wasn’t that my swordsmanship was stronger than before, or that my mana had exploded.

‘Is it the increased senses and mana perception?’

The only abilities that felt like they had increased were the two from the Sensing family.

But I can’t believe it’s such an easy fight…….

I felt like I needed to learn more about these two abilities.

After making sure the undead were dead, I turned my head to check on my companions.

They both seemed fine.

This time, I didn’t need Hoffman’s help, nor did I need the elf.

Neither of them could keep up with the speed of me and the corpse golem.

Once I was sure my companions were safe, I looked back at the undead on the ground and sighed.

‘No wonder I failed this time.’

A troll’s blood would have been worth a fortune, but the corpse golem didn’t have a single valuable part.

In fact, it was the same with the other undead,

As a result, my plans to purchase a manor had been slipping away ever since the war with the demon army began.

Anyway, with nothing left to scavenge from the fallen undead, it was time to meet the humans.

As I turned my attention to the ammunition magazine, I heard a shout from it.

“Hands up! Move, I’ll shoot! Octopus!”

I couldn’t believe my ears.

An “octopus,” too…….

I didn’t know the word anyway, so I said something else.

“Squid.”

I was afraid that a bullet might fly, but surprisingly, I heard a reply.

“All clear!”