Chapter 228
Maybe because they had already faced it seven times.
The pond that had become Talaze didn’t appear immediately, just shimmered. Next to it, Prince shouted mockingly.
[What are you doing! Scared? You are scared, aren’t you? If you don’t come out, I’m going in!]
A little further away, Simon’s pupils narrowed as he watched in silence.
‘Don’t tell me……’
The thought was short, the action quick.
Simon opened subspace and summoned six Overlord blades, shooting them up from beneath his feet simultaneously. His body soared high into the sky.
[Commander?]
[Hey, why are you going up?]
Piercing the night wind, Simon flew into the air, clutching the hilt of his greatsword and taking in a deep breath.
Looking down, he saw the shimmering pond’s surface growing increasingly violent.
‘It’s coming!’
Soon, the pond surged upward, and Talaze, in the form of a drill-like figure, shot straight up into the sky.
‘Just as I expected.’
Biting his lip in determination, Simon brought down the Greatsword of Destruction with all his might.
Talaze rising, Simon descending—the two forces collided in midair.
BOOOOOOM!
A massive shockwave erupted, shaking trees and grass alike.
Simon came down in a descending strike, and from the tip of the drill-head to the very tail, Talaze was evenly cleaved in two.
[Nice!!!]
[Commander-!]
Prince cheered and raised his arms in triumph.
Erze gazed dreamily at Simon, who was descending.
‘Just two more times!’
Simon panted and turned to look behind him.
But then—
Sssrrrrrrrk.
The two halves of Talaze’s body, split in the air, rejoined and once again took the form of a large pond.
‘It can resurrect mid-air too……!’
BOOM!
From within, Talaze’s main body, with two lives remaining, burst out.
Simon, still descending, couldn’t immediately pursue, and Erze and Prince, shocked, chased after it with their spiders and zombies.
[Talaze. Absolute survival. Mutate as needed.]
Crick-crick.
Bat-like membranes spread from Talaze’s arms, reaching down to its waist. Flapping them vigorously, it began to descend.
[Talaze. Eight deaths. Eleven total. Yet survived all.]
Though Talaze was specialized for aquatic combat, it was not originally capable of flight.
Gliding down and widening the distance, it transformed again into a small quadruped creature and ran across the grass. If it could just reach the ocean, it was sure it could survive.
Tatadat!
[Survive at all costs. Report to Magnus.]
While dashing forward without looking back, Talaze’s sharp senses detected a presence.
A man in robes was walking from the front. He looked like one of the “Watchers” who had been a nuisance while searching this forest.
Talaze bared its fangs and let out a threatening roar, meaning “get out of the way”.
Most people would have flinched and backed off just from the roar alone, but the robed man merely stopped and bent his knees. At that moment, Talaze realized something was wrong.
BOOM!
The man’s fist, flying like a flash of lightning, struck Talaze in the abdomen.
CRACK!
A strong breaking sound came from its body. Talaze’s form caved in and tumbled across the grass.
[Warning. Retreat.]
It had to get out before the 7th Legion arrived. Talaze’s body swelled, transforming into a monstrous form over five meters long.
[Retreat.]
Tat!
Yet the man, despite the final warning, launched himself into the air.
His pose mid-air was strange. Chest thrust forward, arms stretched out, head tilted back, and legs arched so far they nearly touched his head.
It was a stance that seemed to coil energy like a compressed spring.
<Kajan’s Original – Fang>
From that stance, his arms snapped forward, crossing in an X-shape. Ten claw marks ripped through Talaze’s torso, shredding it—upper and lower halves, even the neck, were severed.
With that attack, Talaze’s body completely collapsed, returning to a pond.
“Kajan!”
Simon, who had just landed on a tree, beamed and shouted.
“Thanks for coming!”
“Glad I wasn’t too late.”
Erzebet, who arrived after Simon, scowled.
[You again?]
“It’s been a while.”
The two were familiar with each other from a joint investigation before the Saint incident.
Meanwhile, Prince, arriving last, was startled by Kajan and assumed a combat stance.
[H-Human?!]
“Kajan’s fine, Prince. He’s……”
Bubble bubble bubble!
As the pond began to churn again, everyone fell silent and turned their focus to Talaze.
“That last attack caused this form.”
“Yes, I saw it too.”
Now, just one life remained.
Defeating this one would end it.
Then, from the pond, Talaze’s voice echoed out.
[Talaze. Ninth death. Only once. Yet survived.]
The pond suddenly shrank.
As everyone readied their strongest Darkness to slay the incoming Talaze—
SHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!
Suddenly, the pond expanded. It surged out to cover Simon and the others, spreading hundreds of meters in radius. At the same time, their bodies began to sink.
[Kugh!]
Erzebet tried to pull her legs free, but it was no use. It was as if they were glued to the ground.
SHWAAAAA!
Then the center of the pond rose up, and a Talaze bigger than anything they’d seen so far appeared.
[Plan changed. Kill all and survive.]
As Talaze brought both arms down, Simon, Kajan, and the Ancient Undeads were simultaneously pulled to the bottom of the pond.
GLOOOORRRRK!
Holding his breath, Simon looked around.
It was a murky, foul-smelling pond. Bones of beasts and unidentifiable debris floated all around.
There was a floor, too, covered in black, dirty moss swaying with the current. It felt eerie, like the moss was beckoning him with outstretched hands.
“This pond is weird. I can’t swim out.”
Kajan was flailing his limbs, trying to swim, but stayed in place without moving forward.
Simon looked up. Above the pond, the massive Talaze was stirring its Darkness-infused arms, clearly preparing something sinister.
[Boy! Look below!]
At Feer’s shout, Simon looked down.
From the dark moss at the bottom of the pond, countless piranhas with rows of teeth were swarming like bees. It was like a black wave surging beneath the water.
[Eeek! There’s so many of them!]
[We can’t even spin webs down here! What should we do?]
“……”
Instead of answering, Simon slowly grabbed the Greatsword of Destruction and lowered it. At the same time, blue-black light flared like fire from both Feer’s helmet and Simon’s eyes.
“Let’s go, Feer.”
[Keh-heh-heh!]
Simon began to swing the greatsword slowly from side to side with both hands, then, with force, brought it behind his back into a charging stance. He began pouring all his strength and Darkness into the greatsword.
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!
Darkness converged, and the waters churned violently.
A massive flash burst forth from the Greatsword of Destruction, illuminating the dark pond like daylight.
‘Slowly.’
Simon’s body spun as he slid along the turbulent currents of the pond. As his downward-pointing legs tilted left, both arms moved, pulling the greatsword down.
CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH CRASH!
The greatsword began to carve a massive arc.
A huge slash line tore through space where the greatsword passed, and everything it touched was sliced clean in two. The swarm of piranhas was erased, the writhing moss and even the pond floor split like a crevasse.
A groan escaped through clenched teeth from the recoil of using such immense power, blood rushed to his head, but Simon gritted his teeth and kept drawing out the power.
The slash, which had carved through the pond floor, now began to rise.
The final target. Simon’s gaze locked onto Talaze above the pond.
‘Cut through the entire space—’
The centrifugal swing of the greatsword rose skyward as Simon’s body turned downward.
As his consciousness began to blur, Simon roared in his mind,
‘Feel the cut!’
SCHHHHHHHHHHRACK!
A blinding white arc cut through the pond and sky alike, and Talaze, caught between, was cleaved from head to toe.
A tremendous shockwave followed, shaking the pond and the Forbidden Forest.
KYAAAAAAAACK!
Talaze’s arms shot toward the sky, then its body, now split, crumbled and fell apart.
The four of them swam to avoid the falling debris.
[Pwah!]
“Gah!”
With Talaze destroyed, they could now ascend.
The pond had significantly shrunk. Erzebet extended spider silk and lifted all four of them from the pond, placing them safely on dry land.
Even at this moment, the pond continued shrinking until it turned into a lump of flesh, then reduced further to a small dot on the ground.
Gurgle.
Eventually, from that dot, a flood of mashed organs and corpses spilled out, and the pond completely vanished.
[We won! All ten deaths!]
[We did it!!]
Erzebet and Prince cheered. Simon, exhausted, collapsed to the ground.
Kajan approached and said,
“Well done.”
“Ah, thank you so much for helping.”
Simon smiled faintly. At last, he felt free from the pressure that had been choking his neck.
[Hey! We need a victory ceremony now!]
[This girl runs into the commander’s arms!]
The Ancient Undead clung to him. It looked like resting would take a bit more time.
* * *
Tap.
Tatadat.
Talaze, now transformed into a rat, was fleeing frantically.
Everything had gone according to plan. When reduced to its last life, Talaze had dragged the 7th Legion into the pond, while the real body escaped in this rat form.
Since it was the last life, Talaze had poured all its strength and energy into the clone. It should have bought enough time, but when it looked back, even that powerful clone had already been sliced in half.
They were extremely dangerous.
Far stronger than expected.
The necromancer presumed to be the commander—appearing to be the student Keyzen—was already that powerful.
If he continued to grow, he would pose a serious threat to Magnus. He had already forcibly taken control of the 7th Legion’s Ancient Undead, making conflict unavoidable.
This must be reported to Magnus, no matter the cost.
The sea! If it could just reach the sea—
Breaking through the forest, Talaze saw the beach and the sandy shore. The sound of waves was music to its ears.
Still in rat form, it sprouted gills on its cheeks and rushed toward the water’s edge.
[!]
Sensing a presence, Talaze instantly hid behind a rock.
A human was there.
At this late hour, a black-haired girl was strolling alone along the moonlit beach.
She had an indescribable aura. Her face looked weary, as if she’d just woken from sleep, and she wore only a white dress, barefoot.
She held a communication crystal in her hand.
“Yes, Mom.”
Her voice could be heard.
“Yes, I’m at the place you mentioned. What is it at this hour? ……Ah, you always make me do things. Yes, yes. I got it.”
Talaze held its breath and waited.
He didn’t know who this human was, but there was no benefit in being discovered.
Just go. Just pass by.
Plop.
The girl tossed the communication crystal into subspace and walked along the beach, her black hair fluttering.
“I have no grudge against you—”
Suddenly, a dark red dagger appeared in her hand.
“But die for me.”
Swiish!
With a sonic boom tearing the wind, Talaze quickly leapt back. The dagger shattered a boulder and embedded itself into the sand.
[I am a soldier of the Magnus Legion. My name is Talaze.]
Talaze spoke quickly.
[If you’re a necromancer, identify your affiliation.]
Step, step.
She stepped across the wet sand in her bare white feet.
“Affiliation?”
Stopping in place, her eyes turned blood-red, glowing like a wild beast’s.
Then, behind her, the space along the moonlit beach tore open like a mouth, and in the darkness, dozens of identical glowing red eyes appeared.
“Daughter of a nosy mother.”
From the abyssal darkness, a colossal pillar of red energy, saturated with unimaginable power, shot down in a straight line.
THWACK!
Fleeing frantically, Talaze was engulfed by one of the many red pillars and vanished.
It was Talaze’s first mission failure, and his final mission.
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters