Ghost Knight King's Dungeon Project

Chapter 60 [Swamp Giant]

Crack! Crack! A series of continuous explosions echoed across the clearing on the border between the swamp and the tall grass plain.

The tanners of Purange rushed forward, hurling a barrage of acid bombs, but having experienced the previous encounter, Samael was prepared.

Five tall, heavily armored knights, carrying hammers and spears, erected heavy bronze shields with tightly sealed edges, forming a corrosion-resistant wall of bronze that firmly blocked a round of acid bombs.

The acid sprayed out, corroding the scattered grass stalks and half-collapsed tree trunks, creating large, yellowish holes.

Samael picked up a small fragment from the acid explosion behind his shield—a fluffy clump of fungus, loose and porous like a sponge, shaped like a hemisphere. The inside of the sphere was hollowed out, dripping with fermented, bloody acid.

It turned out to be the case.

When the tanned corpses in the swamp ferment with humus, they produce an unstable acidic liquid that has an effect similar to a corrosive explosive potion. It is extremely easy to detonate, and can be triggered by means such as hammering or external deformation.

Prange captured these tanned corpses that could produce acidic potions and stored them in his tomb. He inserted hollow copper tubes into the swollen corpses filled with slurry, artificially filled them with fermentation materials such as humus, and then drained out the fermentation products. In this way, he could obtain this explosive necrotic acid slurry continuously without losing any undead units.

Because of the extremely unstable nature of necromantic acid, it is difficult to preserve after leaving the necromantic body. Plang used loose and porous materials such as rotting flesh or fungal tissue as a medium, saturating the acid like a sponge to barely maintain its stable properties. However, the internal acid core will still explode after being subjected to a strong impact.

But how was he going to store such a dangerous projectile? It would explode upon impact. Samael peered out from behind the wall of bronze shields, watching the swamp monsters and tanners closing in on Prange.

Boom, boom.

The swamp monster's massive body moved forward slowly, its heavy footsteps mingling with the dripping sound of liquid falling, as thick, viscous humus sludge dripped from its body.

Mud? Samael looked at the waists of the tanners in Prang and saw that the large leather bags were heavy and swaying, as if they were filled with thick, sticky slurry.

Using humus mud as a buffer—soaking acid bombs in mud allows for relatively safe storage and transport of these bombs.

He looked up at the heavy, bulging bag at Prang's waist. Clearly, it contained something similar.

Samael felt a little more confident. He raised his head and looked at the swamp monster in front of him.

The scanner is now enabled.

【Psionic Construct (Main Material: Organic Matter)】

[Constructed artificial life form, manufactured using recycled biomass, retaining the original biological structure, with a probability of generating a small amount of biological posture materials. Inexpensive, can be generated in a psionic environment. Capable of performing simple tasks.]

[Poorly constructed, lacking intelligence, its armor is made of thick, semi-fluid humus, often used to absorb enemy fire.]

Humus is merely an outer shell component; the psionic circuits are concentrated in the core.

[Lack of effective limbs. Severely limits the number of biological pose materials available.]

[Methods of activation include, but are not limited to: resonance signals from psychic copper, and modifications using psionic implants.]

[Target Source: Naturally Generated]

【Condition: Good】

Structural integrity: 92%

[Stamina: 91%]

[Can record biological pose images. Total number of recording bits: 2]

[Biological posture recorded: Breaking the base (1/2)]

【@refresh@】

[Bio-Attitude Detection: Breaking the Barrier]

[Using its immense weight, it destroys buildings and crushes enemies. Often used in large-scale biological weapons.]

[Limited to individuals with exceptionally large size and weight.]

The database has been updated.

[Burn to the "Artificial Life Science - Biological Posture Materials" content library]

[The device is usable.]

【@refresh@】

[Biological Structure Material Testing: Bonding Elements]

[Adhesive tendrils are tough, organic roots that can absorb various materials from the surrounding environment, fixing them to the body and forming a thick, protective armor. The type of root depends on the types of raw materials in the environment.]

Samael adjusted his helmet slightly, gazing at the mud on the swamp monster's body.

A mixture of peat, moss, fungi, and other plant and animal remains, providing an excellent fermentation substrate.

Sure enough… the thought of what he was going to do next made him want to laugh. He chuckled softly, drew his sword and shield, and tapped the shield with the hilt of his sword.

clang!clang!clang!
Whoosh! The Dark Copper Harpoon fired a volley, but it was blocked by the five Great Shield Knights in the front row, who swung their hammers and spears, and the combat skill [Conquest] made a whooshing sound as it cut through the air.

The tanned corpse hunters, wearing wide-brimmed helmets, activated Nightmare Dash, their charred claws scratching at tree trunks and soil as they nimbly retreated, their crocodile-skin coats billowing like ghostly shadows, quickly withdrawing from the hammering range of the heavily armored greatshield knights.

Clang! Clang! Clang! Under the command of the sword and shield striking, the Nether Bronze Shield tilted slightly, and dozens of unarmored rotting corpses, wearing bell-shaped helmets and carrying Nether Bronze scimitars, suddenly darted out from the gaps between the shields, rushing towards the Corpse Hunters like cunning venomous snakes.

Bang! Prange plucked the strings of the giant violin shield behind him.

Amidst the humming echoes of the thick, dark bronze strings, the tanner hunters pulled mud-covered acid bomb balls from the pouches at their waists and launched another round of tosses.

The crackling and popping sounds were incessant, but the rotting corpses wielding long curved knives were like agile parkour masters, their unarmored bodies swaying nimbly from side to side, skillfully dodging a barrage of acid explosions.

The splattering acid, like putrid flowers, burst amidst the running corpses, yet only two bombs struck!
Two zombie warriors carrying long curved knives were hit by the acid bomb. Amidst the sizzling sound of corrosion, their tattered muscles could no longer support their bodies. However, more than a dozen zombie warriors still managed to pass through the concentrated fire zone of the projectiles and approach the tannery hunters.

【Focus on Footsteps】! Although it's difficult for someone with Samael's heavy bronze body to use combat techniques like 【Focus on Footsteps】 normally, and sword and shield undead wearing full knight armor can't run fast, undead without armor can!

This was a targeted countermeasure devised by Samael after analyzing Prang's tactics—since the opponent liked to use troublesome projectiles, and even armor could not prevent acid from seeping into the gaps, then simply remove the armor and switch to an agile style with no armor and light armor, making it difficult for projectiles to hit!

"What... what kind of combat technique is this?" Prange clung to the swamp behemoth's shoulder, leaning most of his body out of the seat. "Since when have necromancy combat techniques been specialized in dodging and survival?"

The rotting corpse assassins, dragging long curved blades, drew closer. The tanning corpse hunters raised their long-handled harpoon guns, intending to engage in close combat using the necromancy techniques [Sampling Pierce] and [Judgment].

The moment the harpoon gun was thrust out, the rotting zombie warrior wielding the long curved knife performed a swift backflip, neatly and beautifully dodging the piercing harpoon blade. With a powerful kick from his bronze boots, he sideways kicked the gun barrel away and slammed it hard into the face of the rotting zombie hunter, flattening the decaying, empty rotting zombie and leaving a clearly visible large footprint!
The advanced combat skill from the warriors of the Supar Desert: [Battle Dance]!
These Corpse Hunters are undead units meticulously designed by Samael, modeled after his former formidable enemy and based on the tactical system and combat skills of the demon hunter Musa.

The powerful demon warrior Musa had left a deep impression on Samael. His fierce and agile fighting style, as well as his swift and efficient killing techniques, remained vivid in Samael's memory. In situations requiring unarmored, highly agile warriors, Musa-Salamanda's fighting style was perfectly suited.

Although the advanced combat skill [Battle Dance] will cause considerable damage to the necromancer's decaying muscles, the Nether Bronze Bell Helmet needs to reheat and recharge, and the repeated use of combat skill materials also requires a cooldown period, one [Battle Dance] is enough for the assassin style that aims for a one-hit kill!

Like tribal warriors from the desert, the Corpse Hunters kicked away the harpoon gun barrels, stepped on the shafts, and stomped on the harpoon guns of the tanned corpses until they were knocked out of their hands.

In the midst of a fierce somersault, whether it's a slam of the boot heel, a strangulation with both legs, or a spinning series of kicks, heavy blows land hard on the heads of the corpse hunters, causing a series of imbalances.

They somersaulted, raising their long, curved bronze swords. Their [Wild Dance Stance] transformed into a blur of dark blue blades, and a chilling blue mist, carrying a ferocious force, seeped into the tanned corpses' skin, which was as hard as dried leather, severing the necks of the tanned corpse hunters.

Clang! The wide-brimmed bronze helmet, along with the head, fell to the ground and was picked up by the long curved blades in the hands of the corpse hunters.

The Corpse Hunters defiantly pointed their blades at their helmets and swaggered in front of the swamp behemoths of Prange.

“This isn’t necromancy combat technique at all…” Planger came to his senses. “Necromancy combat techniques are all for annihilation and cleansing, this is fucking fighting technique! It’s the fighting technique of the living! You’ve created a bunch of things that imitate the living… Where did you get these posture materials?”

“It’s none of your business,” Samael replied calmly, surrounded by five knights with great shields, hammers, and spears.

"Alright! Then you'll see what use a living person's fighting skills are against a killing machine!" Prange hoisted the violin-shaped shield on his back, placed the violin bow and rapier together, and the violin emitted a deep, resonant sound, like the panting of a dying animal.

The swamp behemoth roared and burst out of the waist-deep pool of water, crashing into the corpse hunters wielding long curved blades!

The Corpse Hunters showed no fear, leaping wildly towards the swamp behemoth, hacking and slashing with their longswords. Two hunters even jumped onto the frame behind the swamp behemoth, hacking at Planger with their blades! The hunter on the left had his first strike blocked by Planger's massive shield, but Planger's harp rapier suddenly thrust out from behind the shield, piercing the hunter's throat and sending his corpse head and bell-shaped helmet flying!
The hunter on the right leaped up and unleashed the combat skill [Falling Slash], slashing down with his blade from Prange's shoulder armor down to his waist and leg armor, but it failed to inflict any effective damage on him.

Prange was, after all, a Ghost Knight. While his Dark Bronze weapons could easily cut through rotten flesh and chop bones, it would be difficult for a small, agile warrior to break through his Dark Bronze armor in a short time.

Prancing's armor was not plate armor, but rather a style of plate armor with less metal. The openwork sections were covered with more flexible and lighter scale-like armor, with sharp edges like crocodile scales.

The tip of the knife was firmly stuck in the gaps of Prange's scales.

Prange sneered, raised his arm armor, and with a flick of his fin-like blade, severed the throat of the Corpse Hunter. With a twitch of his rapier, he knocked away the one-eyed bell-shaped helmet.

Amidst the swamp behemoth's swaying and jolting, he kicked the two corpses off his seat and pulled the scimitar stuck in his body.

The other carrion hunters hacked at the swamp behemoth's body, but their blades were almost useless against the humus and mud.

The swamp monster roared, its body slowly swelling up—*sizzle!*
With a loud bang, the long, sharp spikes of dark bronze embedded in the swamp behemoth's body suddenly sprang out, piercing through a series of rotting corpse hunters around it.

It raised its fists, made of swamp mud, and unleashed the necromancer's combat skill, "Fortress Breaker," with a force powerful enough to destroy buildings. It smashed the bell-shaped helmets of the Corpse Hunters into a large, dark bronze disc, sending up a spray of water everywhere.

The remaining hunters assumed a [blade-reversal stance] and cautiously retreated slowly, backing away little by little towards the tall grass plain.

"This is the combat technique of the living! Meaningless, my friend!" Prange sat smugly on the chair behind the swamp behemoth, plucking the hard strings beside him. "The undead are machines of destruction that come to annihilate everything. These tricks of the living are meaningless in the face of absolute destructive power!"

“Yes, that’s right.” Samael watched quietly from behind the shield wall of the five great shield knights as the swamp monster of Prange approached step by step, estimating the distance.

“Your territory is mine! You can still surrender now and work for me—all you need to do every day is clean my workshop, fill the acid bombs with the filler for the self-destructing necromancy, load the acid bombs, harvest reeds and fungi, capture the animals I need, collect the corpses, and… what else was there? Let me think.” Prange jingled the fingers on his gauntlet.

"Don't worry, I won't treat you unfairly. We are, after all, the same kind—in this inexplicable, idiotic world, only the seven of us are kindred spirits who appreciate each other. As long as you follow my orders..."

“No, thank you.” Samael shrugged in the shadow of the swamp troll. “I told you before, I have more interesting things to do.”

“Uh…” Prange looked down from the swamp troll’s shoulder at Samael in the shadow of the swamp troll.

He stood calmly, shielded by five large shields, with only a bronze helmet visible.

"You...you also have a secret weapon up your sleeve?" Prange probed, manipulating the swamp behemoth and slowly raising its heavy fists.

In the massive shadow of the swamp behemoth's raised fist, the hammer-and-shield heavy knights parted to the sides, revealing a large, sealed metal canister. Samael raised a nozzle fitted with flint and a hand pump.

"You've finally left the damp swamp puddles and entered dry land." Samael calmly pulled the trigger of the Supar oil's flamethrower, and a fire dragon shot out from the nozzle, forming a cone that covered the swamp monster's entire front!

Thank you, Musa Salamanda! You are not only an excellent warrior, but also a sincere philanthropist! Your spoils are still in use today! Samael silently expressed his gratitude in his heart.

This is the flamethrower set whose trigger was destroyed by Archie during the final stages of the Battle of Musa.

Archie had only unscrewed the trigger of the flamethrower; the rest of the mechanism was intact, and the metal can still contained more than half a can of fuel. To avoid leaving any trace, he took the can of fuel with him when he left.

The peat that makes up the swamp behemoth's body is combustible, and the porous humus also harbors marsh gas produced during fermentation. After leaving the damp swamp pools and spending half a day entangled with other carrion hunters on land, the peat has been mostly drained and is perfectly usable as fuel!

With crackling and popping sounds, the burning oil clung tightly to the swamp monster's body, igniting the layer of humus and peat on its surface amidst the damp smoke.

The flames instantly spread, and the swamp behemoth was transformed into a ball of raging fire in an instant! Moreover, because the swamp behemoth's body contained some demonic plant and animal materials, the flames took on a pale, demonic white hue!

The pale flames could not harm Prange, but they licked at Prange's bronze breastplate, which was decorated with crocodile teeth.

"No, no, no, no... no, no!" Prange cried out, urging the swamp behemoth to stumble and turn, trying to return to the swamp waterhole to extinguish the fire and save this precious large, high-level undead. "Wait, wait, what is this? This flame... I'm tasting it again... Ugh! Disgusting! So fucking disgusting! Sour, bitter, and rotten!"

Prange smacked his helmet, savoring the burning taste of the swamp troll, and screamed:
"history?!"

Ignoring the fact that the swamp monster was still burning, he jumped off the flaming seat and frantically shook his ship-shaped helmet, trying to shake off the terrible stench of decay from his senses.

A moment later, he finally managed to get up with difficulty. Turning his head amidst the lingering stench of decay, he remembered that the swamp monster was still burning.

The moment Planger turned to command the troll, the smoldering marsh gas within the troll's body ignited amidst a smoldering crackling sound. With a muffled explosion, clumps of still-burning humus rained down, scattering everywhere.

It was as if a torrential rain of mud was falling from the sky. Rotten flesh, tangled roots, broken bones, and lichen fragments mingled in the muddy raindrops and pattered onto the ground.

“You! You destroyed my swamp troll…” Prange roared, raising his greatsword and rapier, “Did you think my true form was easy to deal with…”

Samael shrugged, bent down and patted the head of a bell-shaped helmeted root ball, taking a bulging leather bag from its hand.

“That is…” Pulange was taken aback.

That was the equipment bag of one of our own tannery hunters. We were in such a rush when that group of tannery hunters was wiped out that we didn't have time to manually detonate it.

"Ha! You'll get your helmet blown off!" Prange activated the fuse. With a click, a piece of necromancer lying on the ground next to him tapped the flint.

The fuse was removed prematurely.

"So what? Come on! If you've got the guts, come and fight me one-on-one!" Prang, hiding behind his violin-shaped greatsword, brandished his rapier wildly, peeking out a corner of his helmet from the rim of the shield as he retreated, taunting, "Back! Back!"

He tried to stall for time, hoping the next batch of undead would arrive.

He had assumed that a swamp behemoth and a group of tanner hunters would be enough to deal with Samael, and hadn't summoned all the undead to the border. He hadn't expected Samael to have even more bizarre tricks up his sleeve, even going so far as to force his enemies to taste the flavor of history to humiliate him.

"You think you can hurt me just by getting my acid bomb?" Prange provoked as he retreated, one foot splashing into the swamp. "The Nether Bronze body is not afraid of corrosion at all! Without the added benefit of corrosion, the explosive power of a single bomb is not enough to cause any damage."

“Oh, yes, I know,” Samael nodded. “But you can look at your waist. That whole bag of acid bombs doesn’t look very stable.”

Pulange was taken aback, and slowly lowered his head.

During the earlier boarding and slashing attack by the rotting corpse hunter, the bag at his waist filled with acid bombs was slashed open, and most of the mud inside, which was used for cushioning and containment, had leaked out.

Without the buffer of a mud layer, unstable acid balls could explode at any time due to collisions.

In the instant he realized what might happen next, Prange used his rapier as lightly as possible to lift the bag, his armor clattering and trembling as he carefully raised it, trying to get rid of this hot potato.

As he stood in the pose of the Statue of Liberty, holding a bag full of unstable acid bombs on his rapier, ready to throw it, an acid bomb was thrown from Samael's hand and hit the bag squarely.

“Damn it, I hate you,” Prange said.

boom!
Amidst the splashing acid spray, Prange's boat-shaped helmet, half of his shoulder armor, and one arm armor were blasted away by the powerful impact. After the hissing acid splashes and corrosive white mist dissipated, Prange's headless, severed-arm body stood in place.

clang!clang!clang!
Samael tapped his sword and shield, signaling his undead minions to retrieve Planger's armor pieces, but the rotting knights stationed on the eastern border behind him raised an alarm.

Amidst the jingling of bells, the shadow of a massive scythe flashed, slicing a corpse knight diagonally in two from his left shoulder to his right rib.

Rahado realized that he and Prange were at war and tried to take advantage of the situation.

Damn it... The undead forces have suffered heavy losses, and most of them are still concentrated on the border of the swamp. Samael subconsciously turned his head, wanting to find a way to capture Prange's main body first.

However, in the blink of an eye, Prange's severed arms and headless body had already fallen into the pool with a splash. Seven or eight water streaks cut through the duckweed, dragging his body, picking up his blasted shoulder armor, arm armor, and helmet, and the water flowed into the depths of the swamp.

A rotting, blackened corpse's arm raised its boat-shaped helmet, emerging from the distant, duckweed-covered water.

“You’ll pay for this! You tactical brat!” Prange’s helmet roared incessantly. “You destroyed my Swamp Troll—and I’m telling you, I have something even more powerful than the Swamp Troll!”

Samael slapped his helmet, realizing he hadn't even managed to capture him alive. But thinking about it, even if he had, he didn't know how to imprison Prange. The other man could still manipulate the undead to cause trouble.

The sound of bells behind him grew closer to the center of the tall grass plains, and Samael felt a headache coming on. He stuffed the bag of trophy acid bombs into the bell-helmet's rotten root orb and urged his other undead units toward the invaders sent by Rahador.

The cavalry of the distant gray moss field to the north were nowhere to be seen, but from the northeast, the sounds of excited roars and the hoofbeats of cast-iron warhorses could be faintly heard, intertwined with the rumble of war drums and the clanging of chains.

The civil war in the Heart of Bones has officially begun, and the chaos has started. The situation is likely to become increasingly chaotic. Perhaps I should find a temporary ally so that I won't be besieged when dealing with one side of the enemy.

Samael, sword and shield in hand, directed the undead to repel Rahador's harassment while glancing towards the distant wilderness to the north.

Form an alliance, concentrate forces, and defeat them one by one...

(End of this chapter)