Chapter 90
The biggest problem with the fake Viccrum was its regenerative ability.
And according to Feer, who offered a solution, his greatsword was imbued with the power of destruction.
Simply put, any living creature that came into direct contact with the sword would receive wounds that couldn’t regenerate or heal—true severance, in the literal sense of the word.
"Why didn’t you say that sooner!"
Simon shouted, agitated. Feer clicked his tongue.
[Because I can’t step out right now. Look! Too many eyes watching.]
It was true. Given the state of emergency, more than ten Observers were hovering around Viccrum.
"Is there any chance I could borrow your sword?"
[This is a spirit sword forged from part of my own body! No one but me can even lift it, let alone swing it.]
Simon paused to think, then snapped his fingers and smiled.
"Then how about this idea?"
[Let’s hear it.]
After listening to Simon’s entire explanation, Feer burst into loud laughter.
[You’re insane!]
"Nothing to lose, right? Let’s at least try it."
[Fine!]
When Simon opened his subspace, Feer dropped the greatsword onto the ground. Just in case, Simon tried grabbing the handle, but it didn’t budge an inch.
"Alright, let’s get started."
Simon opened the subspace again. This time, not on dirt—
Wuuuung!
He used the ground as a base to open the subspace beneath Feer’s greatsword.
A moment later, Feer’s skeletal arm reached out from the subspace and grabbed the hilt of the sword.
"Got it! Just lift it straight up!"
Drduk.
Feer’s arm emerging from the subspace moved the sword, setting it upright. Simon and Erzebet gasped in unison.
"It worked!"
"As expected of the Legion Commander’s brilliance!"
[Brilliant, my frozen ass!]
Feer’s avatar cried out in disbelief.
[You want me to swing the sword like this? I can’t do anything other than hold it!]
"Just holding it is more than enough."
Simon stepped closer and placed his hands over Feer’s skeletal ones gripping the sword’s handle. Feer adjusted his strength and position accordingly.
"Hold it upright!"
At Simon’s command, Feer adjusted the sword until it looked like Simon was the one holding it.
Of course, Simon was only pretending to grip it, while the actual weight and movement came from Feer.
"You’re good at this!"
[…Feels weird. In all my life and unlife, I’ve never held a sword like this.]
"We have no choice. Better than getting spotted and chased down by Keyzen."
Erzebet pulled thread from her fingertips to craft a garment. Then she used it to wrap the exposed parts of the sword and Feer’s arm, concealing them.
Now it was perfect.
"...That’s all good, but…"
Simon felt a little dizzy. Darkness was constantly being drained from the ring on his finger.
"Keeping the subspace open consumes quite a lot of Darkness."
"This will also strain the subspace. Let’s keep it closed until we reach Viccrum."
Simon closed the subspace and retrieved Feer’s greatsword before dashing forward.
Originally, they were supposed to travel a great distance, but—whether fortunate or not—Viccrum, after rampaging through various parts of the southern island, was turning back toward central Kera Island.
‘I have to stop it from reaching Kera Island.’
Today was the third day of Island Survival.
Most of the students were currently gathered on Kera Island.
If Viccrum attacked Kera Island, the exam would undoubtedly be suspended, and in the worst case, a catastrophic disaster could unfold.
While running, Simon activated his magical communication device.
"Loraine! Can you hear me?"
After a bit of static, Loraine’s voice came through.
—Loud and clear! But the situation’s bad. The monster’s heading back to the central island.
"I can see that too. I’ve got a way to take it down!"
—What is it?
"I’ve got a weapon that suppresses regeneration. But I need to use it myself. Can you restrain the monster’s arms for just five minutes? Pass the message to Serne too!"
As soon as Simon said it, he wondered if he’d been too abrupt without giving enough explanation.
But—
—Got it.
Loraine coolly replied and ended the call. She turned her gaze to Serne, who was flying nearby.
"You heard that, right?"
"Hah."
Serne let out a hollow laugh.
"Who the hell does he think he is, ordering us around like that?"
"He said he has a way to suppress regeneration. Do you have another plan?"
"Seriously, you believe him?"
"Yep."
Loraine nodded without hesitation.
"I trust him completely."
"……"
"You take the left arm."
Leaving only those words behind, Loraine sped off on her skeletal horse.
‘...Haaah.’
From Serne’s perspective, none of this made any sense.
When she looked down, she saw Simon really charging straight toward Viccrum.
—Your methods only make more enemies.
"Ugh, seriously!"
Serne muttered in frustration and crossed her arms. Feathers exploded from her body and scattered into the air.
Meanwhile, Simon had reached right in front of Viccrum’s massive foot.
The sheer impact of the giant’s footsteps created not just dust clouds but sandstorms.
"Erze! Ready?"
"Anytime!"
"Let’s go!"
Just as Viccrum’s sole hit the ground, Simon stepped hard on Darkness and leapt, landing squarely on the top of the foot.
Puuk!
Then, he plunged the greatsword into Viccrum’s foot.
The giant’s eye turned downward, apparently feeling pain. Just being seen by that creature was enough to send cold sweat down Simon’s spine.
‘Here we go.’
No time to hesitate. With the sword embedded in the foot, Simon activated the Darkness within and began to run.
From the top of the foot to the ankle, from the ankle to the leg—
"Haaaaaaah!"
Still stabbing with the greatsword, he sprinted straight upward.
Feer’s claim about the power of destruction was true, the wounds left by the sword didn’t regenerate.
Chrrrk!
Chrrrrrrrk!
Viccrum didn’t sit still. The bio-bandages wrapping its body tore away and flew toward Simon.
Simon focused his gaze sharply.
‘...Focus!’
He visualized the imagery Bahil had taught him. Time slowed down, and both his own movement and the bandages’ speed seemed like slow motion.
Remaining in the sword-stabbing stance, Simon twisted his body and head to dodge the bandages.
"You need to cut deeper as you run!"
Erzebet, transformed into Bred, shouted beside him. She was running alongside him.
"Keep causing pain so the attacks lessen!"
"Got it!"
Sure enough, as he stabbed deeper while running, the frequency of attacks noticeably decreased.
But now, from the abdomen, a lump of flesh bulged out, then a third arm burst forth with a loud splat.
‘It has arms on its belly too?!’
The hand opened wide, reaching down to grab Simon.
"I’ll handle this!"
Erzebet sped ahead, surpassing Simon, and collided head-on with the third arm. Grabbing it, she shouted—
"Go, now!"
"Thanks!"
Simon passed Erzebet and finally reached the spot where the giant’s navel was located.
But then, the surroundings darkened. Viccrum’s massive right hand was descending, trying to grab Simon.
Erzebet shouted from behind for him to dodge, but Simon bit his lip and kept running in a straight line.
Chwaaaak!
At that moment, Viccrum’s wrist was cleanly severed. Above the exposed stump of the wrist, Loraine could be seen standing.
"Keep going, Simon!"
Two horns, reminiscent of a demon’s, had sprouted from her head.
Sreung! Sreung! Sreung! Sreung!
Every time the ebony short swords danced in her hands, the monster’s arm was sliced like butchered meat into multiple pieces.
In the blink of an eye, she had reached the shoulder and severed the entire right arm from the body, then leaped into the air and landed on her waiting skeletal horse.
‘As expected of Loraine!’
With its right arm lost, Viccrum now extended its left arm.
Chrrrreeeeek!
Pitch-black feathers coiled around Viccrum’s left arm. Serne gracefully unfurled her crossed arms.
<Chains of Ten Thousand Wings>
Chalak! Chalak!
The feathers broke down into magic circles, then transformed into chains that interlinked with one another.
The joints aligned perfectly, forming a twisted braid-like chain that bound the left arm and locked it in the sky.
—Uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuugh!
Viccrum roared in fury and thrashed its left arm, but the chain only rattled, refusing to break.
The monster then moved the right arm that Loraine had sliced off. The seven shredded chunks of meat stuck together like sticky jelly and began slowly returning to their original form.
Loraine, still mounted on her skeletal horse, flew at high speed and swung her ebony swords.
Jjeojeojeojeojeojeok!
This time, she diced it like a vegetable. The central part of the arm was uniformly sliced into rectangular pieces and scattered in all directions.
However, before they fully dispersed in the air, the flesh pieces were already reattaching via a sticky fluid.
The only one delivering effective blows was Simon, who was cutting through Viccrum with Feer’s greatsword as he climbed.
"Huff! Huff! Haaa!"
Though Simon had reached the chest area, he was already feeling the limits of his stamina. No, he had long since surpassed them multiple times.
Even though Feer held the sword, Simon had to maintain near-vertical footing using Darkness, keep the subspace active, and dodge the flying bandages.
It was an undeniably hellish set of conditions.
And yet—
‘I’ll do this no matter what!’
If he fell now, it would mean certain death.
With dizzying scenery below him, Simon forced his unresponsive legs to keep moving.
‘Ah!’
Then, his right foot, placed on the chest, suddenly lost strength, causing him to slip.
Simon’s body tilted violently to the side.
—Oh my, tired already?
A single feather fluttered in front of Simon’s face.
‘Serne?’
Chak!
Chak! Chak!
Feathers began sticking to Simon’s back.
—I’ll give you a push.
The feathers instantly dissolved into magic circles and unleashed tremendous force.
With firepower like a booster, Simon regained footing with his right leg on the giant’s chest.
‘Hup!’
He started running again.
With the feathers supporting him from behind, the strain was much less, he could run as if flying.
"Haaaaaaaah!"
With a fierce shout, Simon jumped from the shoulder.
And at last—
Open sky appeared.
There was nothing above him now. Only the giant’s shoulder and neck were visible on either side.
Simon now ran from the shoulder toward the neck.
‘Feer!!’
[Ready, boy!]
Simon was running. Observers were watching from all around.
And beyond them, Serne stood, wearing a complex expression.
‘…Simon Follentia.’
The truth was, she had planned to replace the Legion Commander with someone else.
What she needed wasn’t the boy named Simon, but the undead he possessed, and the power of a Legion Commander.
Once she had control of the Legion, she believed any number of powerful necromancers from the Ivory Tower could take his place. Simon was, in any case, destined to disappear.
But—
With legs that had reached their limits, his face distorted by the roaring wind, shouting and screaming as he charged straight for the monster’s neck… the image of the boy burned itself into Serne’s vision.
An unbreakable will.
‘That kind of…’
Could necromancers from the Ivory Tower even mimic that?
Could they even come close?
Having overcome every obstacle, Simon finally reached the giant’s neck and, with a powerful shout, swung the gleaming white greatsword.
JJJEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONG!
The world split in two.
The neck of the giant, many times larger than Simon, showed a clean cut and was sliced in half.
Serne felt overwhelmed, engulfed in a flood of chills.
This was—
Undeniable.
Irreplaceable.
No one in the Ivory Tower could replace Simon Follentia.
[Wahahahahaha! You did it, boy! You did it!]
Feer shouted with joy, and Simon smiled in response. As the severed giant’s head flew off, Simon’s body also began to lose balance.
High up in the sky.
With the cold wind fiercely whipping past, Simon felt a thrilling sensation.
And then—
"Simon!"
His consciousness faded.
Superb.