The Knight stepped back, looking down at its severed blade in shock. It could easily tell something had shifted in Aldric, and it had something to do with the sword he held—it now held an aura of creatures that were not present.
Then, moments later, the sword's runes lost their glow—and the creatures' auras simply disappeared.
"Your soul... I'll take it next."
Aldric approached the Knight in a menacing cadence. He had a bloodlust that leaked from him in copious amounts, enough to make some fear, retreat. The Knight, however, was more curious than anything else. Not necessarily at what was happening to the Awakened and how, but at the strength it gave him—the extent of it.
The Knight charged at Aldric, an unspoken finality to its clumsy attack. As its sword swung down on the Awakened, he simply sidestepped, causing the blade to bury into the stone floor beside him. Before the Knight could pull out its sword, Aldric moved.
Pushing against the floor with as much force as he could, he launched upwards, quickly reaching the head of the Knight, which had been lowered more than usual so its broken sword could reach Aldric.
Muscles tensed and with a strong grip, Aldric swung his blade at the knight's neck in an attempt to sever the creature's head. However, its armor once again proved a formidable defense as Aldric's swing only managed to crack the Knight's helmet.
"Tsk."
Aldric jumped back as the Knight swung its half sword at him, having finally freed it from the clutches of the ground. Al, with skill that would probably surprise himself if he were the slightest bit more self-aware, tumbled and landed on his feet as he assessed the Knight.
The dungeon lord, wasting no time, charged at the Awakened, and as he did, Aldric gripped the sword tighter and the runes on the sword glowed again. Following it was the reaper's smell, its aura—once more filling the room.
The Knight, unperturbed, swung at Aldric regardless, who ducked down, evading the horizontal slash. In counter, he quickly charged at the Knight from under its swing, then, digging his feet into the floor, Al pushed himself at the Knight's chest, lunging towards it and impaling the Knight's heart with his blade with a definitive thrust.
Blood rolled out of the Knight's punctured armor, the scent causing Aldric's grip on his hilt to tighten as he pulled the blade out of the chest of the Knight and pushed away from it.
The creature reached for its punctured armor, grazing its fingers against its green blood, looking down at the emerald stain before glancing back up at the Awakened.
"You've do—"
The dungeon lord fell forward to its death before its words could leave its mouth. The Knight, once described a nightmare that preceded all that the word described before, was now just another slain creature killed by the weakest of the Awakened.
[You have slain Sentient creature: Guardian Knight.]
[Your blade has feasted on the soul of a Sentient.]
[You have obtained Two soul shards.]
[The Dungeon has been Cleared]
[You Have slain the last priest guarding the temple of The perpetually Lost. A worship ground for those who serve Gods long dead. For if the Gods who lead them are no more, how can the followers be anything but lost.]
[You have been rewarded (Ethereal) Artifact: Epistle of Hariga, the creature tamer.]
Heaving, Aldric fell to his knees, his sword leaving his grip as it clattered on the floor. He gripped his chest as blood spluttered from his mouth. His entire body felt as if set afire. He was certain this was a result of the blade's use, since the second time he activated it, he could feel a deep pain that felt far more than just physical.
Aldric glanced up from the blood he coughed up on the floor to look at the glowing orb of red that floated above the Knight's corpse—a soul essence, it seemed.
Standing up, he began to approach the orb with slow steps. As he stretched out his hand towards it, expecting it to come to him like the others did, yet it simply remained floating in place and unmoving. So he continued his approach to it, stretching out his hand. Aldric's finger brushed against the orb, causing it to change from red to dark.
"The knight's soul essence. I really hit the jackpot."
Aldric smiled, attempting to grab the essence, only to completely miss as the orb seemed to evade his hand.
'Huh.'
Al raised an eyebrow as he tried to grab the orb again, only for it to move the second time, evading his grip once more. Tired and growing slightly irritated, Aldric began swinging his hand rapidly in an attempt to grab it, but it evaded his grip each time before finally shooting to the other side of the room.
"What the hell is this?"
Aldric's head began to swivel as he watched the dark orb begin to zip across the room at high speed, doing this for a few moments before stopping in the middle of the room, then shooting into one of the corpses that lay on the floor.
At first, nothing happened. Al simply stared at the dead body it had entered, confused, only finally taking a step back in shock when he saw the corpse twitch. Aldric's eyes widened, certain he was just seeing things, until the arm of the corpse moved.
"There's no way."
Aldric took another step back, watching in complete bewilderment as what he was certain was a dead body barely a minute ago began to stand on its feet. It was a man with dark hair, his eyes were black voids—not originally, but made that way, and his face had no discernable expression.
The corpse stared at Aldric for a while before suddenly raising its hand, and in response, the broken sword of the Knight that lay on the floor clattered a bit before shooting towards the hand of the corpse.
Aldric took another step back. What the former corpse had just done seemed like telekinesis, and he had only ever seen it performed by one thing else—The Knight he had just killed.