Chapter 227
Talaze's ability was simple.
As an undead of the slime type, he could freely change form using "liquefaction" and even separate parts of his body to create clones.
Furthermore, with Legion Commander Magnus’ black magic, this ability was amplified to the extreme, allowing him to overcome his only weakness—his "heart"—by successfully relocating it outside his body.
Currently, Talaze keeps ten hearts stored externally, and even if destroyed, he can reproduce asexually on the spot by consuming one of the hearts to be reborn as a new entity.
This resurrection ability was similar to that of Prince, Simon's Ancient Undead, but the difference was that Talaze consumed his own heart and was reborn anew.
An ultimate form of survivability.
Talaze wasn’t particularly specialized in reconnaissance, but Magnus highly valued his 100% survival rate, even if detected or surrounded by enemies.
And now, under Magnus’ orders, Talaze was tracking the traces of the mysterious Ancient Undead he had encountered in the Jungle of Screams.
[…]
There had been progress.
While sweeping through the grass with long tendrils, Talaze rubbed the soil with them.
[Unidentified underground ruins discovered. Ancient Undead traces match.]
Talaze immediately sensed that this was a significant clue. He wanted to venture deeper into the ruins, but from here on, a dangerous aura was emanating.
Just as he thought to return and report to Magnus and call for reinforcements—
Zzeoooook!
Trees around him flew skyward, exposing pale growth rings. Talaze turned around.
[!]
He saw it, the very Ancient Undead he had been searching for. A necromancer was even wearing it as bone armor.
[Who are yo—…]
The words never finished.
At the same time the trees were cleaved, Talaze’s neck was severed along a clean diagonal line and fell to the ground with a thud.
“Ninth.”
A man’s voice echoed ominously.
“If I kill you nine more times, you’ll disappear, right?”
Grrrrrrrk!
Talaze’s decapitated body collapsed like water and transformed into a pitch-black pond.
Moments later, the pond began to swirl, and Talaze leapt out, fully intact.
[I am Talaze.]
His torso split open and spoke like a mouth.
[Captain of Magnus' Legion. Unidentified necromancer. Identify yourself.]
Simon swung the Greatsword of Destruction without a word. The air split vertically, and this time Talaze ducked with a slick movement, narrowly avoiding the attack.
[Attacking me is an act of hostility against Magnus’ Legion.]
“Obviously!”
Simon kicked off the Darkness and leapt.
“I’m well aware!”
Wearing the bone armor as Feon for the first time in a while filled Simon with overflowing strength.
With a single step, the ground caved in, and his figure shot forward like a bolt of light.
Zzeck!
With the follow-up strike of his charge, one of Talaze’s arms soared into the sky.
[Regenerate.]
Talaze flinched while holding his severed left arm, but nothing happened.
[Regeneration. Failed.]
Simon slammed the brakes and stopped abruptly, twisting his waist and swinging his sword.
That ranged sword strike was extremely dangerous, so Talaze hurriedly retreated.
KWAKWAKWAKWAKWA!
But the sword strike struck not Talaze, but the ground beneath him. With a deafening roar, the ground split open, sending up dust and gravel that obscured Talaze’s vision.
“Now you can’t see!”
Simon drove forward with a powerful stomp and tightened his grip on the greatsword.
“You won’t dodge this!”
ZZZEEEEOOOOOONG!
A second strike, like a combo slash, tore through the curtain of earth, cleaving Talaze's upper and lower body in half.
Simon’s face brightened.
“I did it! That’s already two times… huh?”
But he hadn’t killed him this time. The upper half of Talaze, cleanly sliced, twisted its head in an unnatural direction and stared at Simon.
Then came a frantic voice in Simon’s mind, Feer’s.
[Boy! Aim for the neck, not the chest! It seems you need to sever his neck to consume one of his lives!]
“You’re right.”
As Simon adjusted his grip on the greatsword, Talaze opened his mouth.
[You people. Are a legion.]
Simon charged in with a hardened expression, and the half-bodied Talaze sprouted small legs and began to move.
[Ancient Undead. Only legion commanders can control them. You are a legion.]
Though his tone was flat, Talaze seemed genuinely startled, babbling without pause.
[Hypothesis number eight by Magnus confirmed. The 7th Legion Commander has returned. Must inform him.]
“Not happening!”
Simon leapt again and caught up to the scurrying Talaze, swinging his greatsword.
“I won’t let you!”
Talaze twisted his torso like a corkscrew and extended his remaining arm.
His arm transformed into a drill and shot out like a spear thrust. Simon quickly shifted from offense to defense and blocked it.
At that moment, as Talaze tried to flee—
‘Open Gate!’
The Overlord’s blades shot up from the ground, trapping Talaze inside. Simon clenched his left fist—the one not holding the sword—and twisted it sideways.
‘Grind him!’
CHWAAAAAAARK!
As the tendril blades wrapped around Talaze and applied force, his body began to shrink until—POP!—flesh chunks fell to the ground with a splatter.
‘That makes eight left.’
One chunk of Talaze’s flesh transformed into a black pond again. It bubbled and boiled before forming a larger version of Talaze. Even the severed arm had returned.
[Quite the hassle indeed.]
Feer’s voice came through.
[That’s closer to recreation than regeneration. No matter how extreme the battlefield, his survival rate is 100%! Never let your guard down!]
“Got it!”
Simon had come in as Feon precisely to break that 100%.
Simon gripped the greatsword tightly and glared at Talaze. The key was to relentlessly pressure him so he couldn’t catch his breath, rapidly consuming his lives.
‘I need to burn through at least five more lives in the next ten minutes.’
Sssshk.
Then, Talaze bent down and placed both palms on the ground. His body shot up like a geyser and began ejecting large and small drills in every direction.
“Hup!”
While Simon dodged the incoming drills, Talaze’s main body escaped into the thick forest.
Srrrk.
But something sharp slashed into him, nearly slicing his body in half. Had he kept walking, he would’ve been cleanly bisected.
Talaze recoiled in surprise and looked ahead. In the darkness, a fine thread glinted in the moonlight.
[Where do you think you’re rushing off to?]
Chwarrrrk!
Webs swirled from all directions, binding Talaze tightly.
Emerging from the darkness, Erzebet made a graceful gesture. The webs dug into Talaze’s body and shredded it into pieces.
“Erze!”
[All seven of Talaze’s clones have been eliminated by the Spider Army without issue! That leaves just seven lives for the main body.]
Bubble bubble…
Having already died three times, Talaze turned into a pond once again. In an instant, his giant body emerged.
[Stand down.]
He thrust his drill-formed right arm at Erzebet, but she simply raised her index finger.
Chooeok!
The drill stopped just short of her face. A thin thread was stretched tautly across its front, completely blocking it.
[Ancient Undead. There’s another.]
Talaze’s voice was filled with clear confusion.
[New Legion Commander. Possesses two Ancient Undead. Risk level rising. Must escape and report.]
Zzzt!
Talaze tensed his arm and broke through the web. Erzebet dodged the charge by leaping aside, then raised her palm upward.
[You're full of openings.]
Webs coiled around Talaze’s rear legs, which had shifted his weight forward, and lifted him into the air.
Dozens of Corpse Spiders, waiting for the signal, swung like pendulums and sank their venomous fangs into Talaze’s body. Green fluid dripped as Talaze screamed in agony.
[Now’s your chance!]
“Well done, Erze!”
Simon, already in a slashing stance, swung his sword through the air. Talaze’s head, stiffened from the poison, split cleanly from the strike and dropped to the ground.
‘Only six lives left now!’
Not a moment of rest was allowed.
Talaze’s severed head turned into a black pond and began to bubble. With a pop, a smaller-sized Talaze leapt into the air from within.
[Must inform Magnus. Two Ancient Undead on Roke Island.]
Talaze looked around in a panic, searching for an escape route, when something suddenly shot up from the opposite side of the clearing.
[!]
It was incredibly fast. In a blink, a small boy appeared before Talaze and threw a punch.
BOOM!
With a deafening crash, Talaze was sent flying.
[Hah-hah-ha! Not a chance, you idiot!]
Prince, floating in the air, laughed triumphantly.
As Talaze, his torso twisted, crashed to the ground, zombies swarmed and grabbed hold of him. Simon followed close behind, forming a magic circle with his left hand—the one not holding the greatsword—and clenched his fist tightly.
<Corpse Explosion>
KWAANG!
A massive explosion erupted from Talaze’s immobilized body.
Directly hit by the blast, Talaze shriveled into a pond.
[Boy! That’s five times!]
[Five left!]
Feer, Simon, Erzebet, and Prince—who had just descended—each took positions surrounding the pond. No matter where he fled, they were ready to react.
[Ancient Undead. Estimated at three total.]
Talaze’s voice echoed from the slimy pond.
[Significant threat. Priority report target. The 7th Legion’s development exceeds expectations. Extremely dangerous if left unchecked.]
The pond began bubbling violently.
[Must survive. Must report to Magnus.]
PUUUUUOOONG!
Countless drills burst from the pond. Simon and the Generals dodged the attacks while simultaneously counterattacking the drills.
Feer shouted,
[We can’t tell which one’s the real body! Take out every last one of them!]
The drills, upon hitting the ground, sprouted legs and began to flee.
Simon swept through a cluster of them in a single swing of the Greatsword of Destruction, and used his other hand to control the Overlord, skewering the clones like kebabs.
Feer supported Simon in his bone armor while also commanding the skeleton legion to grab the escaping drills.
Erzebet infused her widespread webs with Darkness, using them like blades to slice the drills apart.
Prince led a zombie horde to block escape routes and strike down fleeing Talazes.
The one who caught the real body—
Zzzeck!
—was Prince. With a barrage of punches, he shattered Talaze’s main body, turning it once again into a bubbling pond.
Prince let out a loud laugh.
[I got him! This is the real one!]
[Focus! Four more to go!]
Prince licked his lips with his tongue and stood ready in front of the pond.
[Come on! Come on! Show yourself! We’ll wipe out those last four lives in a flash—!]
PUOOOOONG!
The pond surged high. From it, a single massive drill shot out and pierced straight through Prince’s torso.
“Prince!!”
[Must survive. Must survive. Must survive.]
Beneath the flying drill, a pair of human legs appeared. Talaze, now noticeably larger, was sprinting wildly through the forbidden forest.
Chwarak!
Chwararak!
But cuts, as though from blades, began to appear all over his body.
[Too late.]
Erzebet and the Spider Troop’s webs, rigged like traps, shredded Talaze’s body and slowed his pace. His form grew ragged from forcing his way through.
Tatadadadadat!
And on the thin webs Erzebet had laid out, a boy cloaked in the Shadowless Cape came running.
“Feer!”
[Got it!]
Simon leapt down from the webs and swung the Greatsword of Destruction.
Srrrng!
Talaze’s left leg was sliced off, and he stumbled. Yet even as he fell, he grew a new leg from his torso and began crawling away like a centipede.
“Get ready, Prince!”
Simon pulled a zombie from subspace, tapped it with a gray ring, and hurled it with the power of the bone armor.
As the zombie flew like a missile—KURURUNG!—a bolt of black lightning struck it.
[Hah-hah-ha!]
Possessing the zombie, Prince landed squarely on Talaze’s back.
[Resurrection techniques—]
The boy raised his interlocked fists high.
[—aren’t yours alone!]
TUQUAAAAANG!
Prince’s fists shattered Talaze’s waist, driving him into the ground like a nail.
Talaze’s body went limp, and Simon and Feer decapitated him with sword strikes, ending him again.
Talaze’s body returned to a pond once more.
[Three!]
[Three lives left! Just a bit more, everyone!]
Erzebet didn’t rejoin right away. She and the Corpse Spiders busily laid new webs across the surroundings. Determined not to let his guard down again, Prince also took a proper defensive stance as he stared at the pond.
Simon stood at a short distance, gripping his greatsword and waiting.
‘No matter what—no matter how—I’ll take all three lives right here!’
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters