Chapter 441: Dark Awakening - Part 5

With the Blackest Blade sword in hand, Fang Raon could survive any lethal strike, basically anchoring them to the sword.

However.

That was all temporary.

Everyone looked at Fang Raon with looks of shock. They couldn’t believe that he was still alive. It shouldn’t be possible.

"How are you still alive?" Leon asked. "You should be dead."

"I am a magician." Fang Raon pulled out his hidden poisoned dagger from the belt and lifted it high. "And you fell for my trick—Void!"

Out of nowhere, Leon’s armor disappeared. It was taken away by Void. It left his body completely exposed.

Leon was too close. The sword was still embedded inside Fang Raon’s body. It was possible to dodge an attack from this close.

’Go!’ Shane shouted inside his mind.

The dagger found its way to Leon’s chest. It stabbed straight into his heart. The paralyzing agent started spreading across his body.

"Ugh!" Leon gasped, shocked that he actually got stabbed. "You... piece of shit..."

It came as shock to him. Fang Raon was basically as weak as an ant to him. There was no way he should be able to hurt him in any way.

Leon pulled the sword out of Fang Raon’s body and then kicked him away. Fang Raon smashed through the trees, but he kept holding the Blackest Blade with all his strength, as his life depended on it.

"Raon stabbed him!" Rose Records saw an opportunity. "He is hurt! Attack him!"

"The Golden Sword!" Della pulled out her golden-bladed sword from her grimoire—angry look on her face. "This is for Fang Raon!"

She was angry at him for hurting him. The golden blade swooped down, but Leon waved his sword and parried it.

It was nice parry, but Leon felt that he was too sluggish, and his vision was also starting to get hazy, as if he was trying to look through a window that had been pattered with rain.

’What is happening to me?’ Leon blinked his eyes. ’Why do I feel so weak?’

In that moment, Rock jumped towards Leon. His arm turned into a dog. The dog-like arm barked loudly and then bit down on Leon’s arm.

"Argh!" Leon screamed as the dog tried to rip his arm off his body. "You bastard... Take this!"

He stabbed through the head of the dog-like arm. The arm turned back to normal. Rock’s arm was drenched in blood, but he was fine with it.

Leon couldn’t use his left arm anymore. It was completely mauled. And he didn’t have Helper with him.

Then, Waylen came forth and slashed across Leon’s chest with his sword. Miranda, Machary, and the rest also rushed to attack.

Arrows pierced through Leon’s legs. The swords cut him. It was shocking everybody that was watching from their homes.

A camera was hovering high above.

Were they really about to witness Leon dying?

’I can’t move my legs...’ Leon visibly panicked. ’That dagger did something to me. I am poisoned!’

There were holographic screens hovering in front of him. He could not read them. The text looked too hazy.

"S-Shane!" Leon shouted towards the man on the rock. "Help me!"

Hearing that, Rose Records became tense again. They were so close to killing Leon. It was so close!

Yet, there was still Shane to deal with.

"Don’t lose your focus!" Della shouted. "Don’t abandon your lives because you want Leon dead. Stay alive!"

Everyone nodded, and they turned to look at Shane, who finally stood up from the rock, and then he pulled out several knives from his throwing belt.

"All right, I’ll help you." Shane jumped into the air. Rose Records tensed up. Then, he threw the knives. "Hail Knives!"

It went nowhere close to Rose Records. Instead, the knives stabbed Leon in the back. It made him gasp in a shock.

"What?!" Machary cried out. "Did he miss?"

"No," Rock chuckled. "Shane is trying to kill Leon too. So much for the loyalty in Dead Redemption. The history is repeating itself."

"W-what?" Leon looked at the grinning Shane in shock. "Y-you bastard..."

It felt like he was back in the woods, being ruthlessly attacked by Rook and Raizen—this was the second time he had been betrayed.

’Why... why... why is this always happening to me? I don’t understand. I am a good guild leader, and I help them get strong. Why the hell do they want to betray me?!’

Leon felt hurt, once again.

"Those knives also had paralyzing poison in them," Shane said with a smile. "You have reached the end of the road, Leon."

"You..." Leon gritted his teeth, and he fell on his knees. "I knew I shouldn’t have invited you back..."

"That’s the thing..." Shane touched his face, and he started ripping off his flesh. "You really shouldn’t have."

The flesh on his face got ripped off. It shocked everyone. They thought they would see the red muscle underneath, but instead, they saw another face.

Shane’s face, all along, was just a mask!

"You..." Leon gasped. "There is no way."

"Surprise," the man dropped Shane’s face mask and combed back his hair. "I’ve been waiting for long for this time!"

He was none other than Rook Rose!

"Brother..." Della gasped. "All this time..."

She had been trying to look for her brother for a while as it looked like he had disappeared, but all this time, he had actually been playing the role of Shane Scuf.

To infiltrate Dead Redemption so he could kill Leon. He had not stopped until he completed his mission.

"For over a year, I have been acting as Shane Scuf. Doing all his mannerism, and spending countless hours immersed in his character. All so I could kill you.

"And the time has finally come."

Rook smiled.

"No..." Leon looked towards the sky, and he cried loudly. "Cry For Help!"

The cry of his echoed throughout the swamp.

A while away, Seonwoo Kim heard his Cry of Help, and she immediately looked really serious—as Leon wouldn’t use that unless it was really serious.

This was only the second time he had ever used that skill. The last time was when he was almost killed by Raizen and Rook.

"I don’t have time to waste with you!" Seonwoo Kim attacked the masked, spear-wielding man. "Get out of my way!"

The masked man blocked her strike with the spear. "It looks like they’re doing well... That’s good."

At that moment, he removed the hood of the cloak and took off his mask—revealing the face of Fang Raizen underneath!

"You..." Seonwoo Kim’s eyes widened in a shock.

"Leon will die today." Raizen stabbed the spear through Seonwoo Kim’s chest. "And so will you. I am here to make sure of that."

Seonwoo Kim slid backwards. Her eyes turned red. In that moment, she turned gigantic as she activated her Legacy Transformation!

At the same time, Fang Raizen did the same, and he became the Fox God—he clashed with the gigantic fist of Seonwoo Kim with his spear!

The ground shook. The trees fell. The fog cleared as the two powerful beings faced off in an epic battle.

"Fox God’s Great Hunt!"

Fang Raizen swung the spear, and orange light burst forth, illuminating the forest in a blazing display of power and skill. It hit Seonwoo Kim directly, and she was thrown back!

...

"That was Leon?" The other members of Dead Redemption were far away. "What the hell is going with him?"

They started running in the direction of the Cry For Help, but they were really far, and they weren’t sure whether they would make it in time.

At the sight of the battle, Leon was bleeding from head to toe, with a pool of blood appearing around him.

Rook then walked towards collapsed Leon with a sword in hand and pressed it against his back with its sharp tip.

"I have been waiting so long for this..."

Leon had turned silent. There was a cold look in his eyes. To some, it looked like he had resigned to his death and was trying to die with his chin up, but some didn’t think so.

There were some people in the stream that thought he must have a plan.

[Poison Removed]

Leon looked at the text message in front of him. He smiled. In that moment, he turned around and thrust his sword towards Rook.

It shocked everyone.

Leon was again able to move!

"I expected that." Rook said with a smirk, and Leon suddenly stopped, the white sword stopping a mere inch away from Rook’s face.

’What?’

Leon’s eyes shook as, for some reason, he couldn’t move again, his body frozen in place—then, he remembered that those knives were still stuck in his back.

"Those knives are called Poison Regenerative Knives. They pump your body with poison without stopping. I got those because for some reason your body can recover from poison faster than anybody else.

"I really don’t have any idea how you do that."

Rook said, and then he reeled back his sword-wielding arm and asked. "Any last words, Leon, or should I call you Robert?"

"No!" Leon screamed.

"Great Roc’s Impalement!" Rook stabbed the sword through Leon’s throat. "That’s the end of you, hahahaha!"

Leon’s eyes shook, and he dropped on his knees. His health fell all the way to zero. An unbelievable scene was happening in front of everyone.

The strongest player in the world, Leon D. Hart, was dead!

’I can’t believe this.’ Fang Raon thought with a look of shock. ’Is he really going to die?’

"Hahahahaha!" Rook laughed loudly. "Finally!"

The sounds of laughter echoed in Leon’s ears. His eyes had turned dark. There was so much anger.

[ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!]

"Huh?" Rook looked at the strange message in front of him. "Error message? What the hell is that?"

[You cannot kill this player!]

Slowly, Leon stood back up from the ground. He removed the knives like it was nothing. His health rose back up to full.

"Rook..." Leon’s face was full of blood vessels. "I am going to kill you."

Time till the Dark Awakening: 1 hour and 50 minutes.