Chapter 393
Sillage and the Blood Heaven Cult forces were completely surrounded.
Zombies led by Prince came from the east, Corpse Spiders under Erzebet from the west, Skullwings of Akemius from the north, and from the front— the south— came the mummies personally commanded by Simon.
No matter where they looked, there was no way out. Sillage’s expression stiffened.
“Golos, Gilla, Anvante. Split into three and lead your forces to confront the undead.”
“Yes, sir!”
The three bishops who received the order quickly dispersed.
“I’ll personally take command of the legion.”
* * *
As Sillage summoned Darkness, he looked straight ahead. Simon and the mummies he commanded were charging in.
“Zombies, huh.”
Bishop Golos of the Blood Heaven Cult, holding two crimson crosses in both hands, headed east.
Behind him followed cultists capable of combat and Blood Zombies.
[…Hm?]
Prince, who was running while holding onto the crown on his head, also spotted him.
[What the? Blood Heaven Cult with crosses?]
“In the name of Goddess Dave, I shall eradicate these foul beings!”
Vwoom!
Leaping from the ground, Golos swung his blood-soaked crosses. Prince halted in place and crossed his arms into an X.
Thoooom!
With a roar, the ground beneath Prince's feet caved in. He slightly furrowed his brow.
[Seriously? Isn’t Dave the goddess worshipped by the Efnelle faction?]
“They are mistaken!”
The veins on Golos’ forehead bulged.
“They’ve twisted the goddess’ teachings and used them as a tool of control! We of the Blood Heaven Cult are the true devotees of Goddess Dave!”
[Oh, give me a break.]
Prince forcefully uncrossed his arms, knocking Golos backward.
[I exchanged just one line with you, and it’s clear how twisted your thinking is.]
“Don’t presume to judge me, you unholy undead!”
Golos raised the two red crosses again.
“The revival of the Apostle is the true will of the goddess!”
[I don’t really care about that.]
Crack!
Prince raised his fists.
[But I can clearly see you’re one hell of a twisted villain!]
Boom!
The two charged at each other. Though their ideologies ran perfectly parallel and unyielding, the distance between their fists rapidly closed.
Smash! Thud! Crack!
Soon, Prince and Golos were fiercely exchanging blows—fists versus crosses. With every hit, a sandstorm erupted around them.
“Guh!”
Golos staggered and retreated.
‘He’s overpowering me, a bishop, with brute strength?!’
[Ha ha!!]
Prince’s eyes gleamed. So did the crown he wore.
Golos, tense, lowered his stance.
Rip!
Thud!
Pain hit from behind. Before he realized it, Blood Zombies had latched onto his shoulders, neck, and thighs, tearing into him.
“What the?!”
[How’s it feel to get bitten by your own allies?]
Prince’s fist shot straight for Golos’ face.
[Hidden Card Punch!]
Craaaack!
It was the cleanest hit possible. The bridge of Golos’ nose shattered, and blood spurted from his nose and mouth.
Golos flew back at tremendous speed, spinning through the air before crashing into the distant sand. Blood Zombies swarmed over and began tearing into his fallen body.
And then—
–Uoooooooh!
Other cultists from the Blood Heaven Cult were also fighting against the very Blood Zombies on their side.
Watching this unfold, Prince toyed with his crown.
[Hmm, it’s working even better than usual.]
Of course, the assault didn’t end there.
[Go!]
A tidal wave of jet-black zombies, the pride of Deathland, surged over Prince and swept into Golos’ forces.
* * *
Slaaaash!
Slaaaaaaaaash!
Each time a dark-blue flash swept through the air, the heads of Blood Zombies went flying.
Some of the cultists quickly caught on and tried blocking with blades, but the flash easily sliced through their weapons and continued forward.
“Gah!”
On the western battlefield was the second bishop of the Blood Heaven Cult, Gilla.
Leaping into the air to evade the flash, she gasped for breath. The piercing on her tongue sparkled.
[What are you doing, human.]
Erzebet scoffed.
[Are you just going to let your underlings die like that?]
“Grr!”
Gilla was too busy trying to deal with Erzebet alone, and during that time, the Corpse Spiders were ravaging her cultists.
When Erzebet raised her right arm palm-up toward the sky, strands of web shot out like laundry lines. The Corpse Spiders launched their silk, linking to them, and then swung across like pendulums to sink their venomous fangs into the necks of cultists.
With wet thunks, the cultists dropped like flies.
“You monsters!”
Gilla activated a magic circle.
From her tongue and all the piercings across her body, blood gushed out, soaking the ground in crimson.
“Come forth!”
She dropped eight Golem Cores from subspace onto the ground.
Glug… Glug… Glug…
The blood began to swirl around the cores and inflated like balloons.
[Oh?]
“This is my true power.”
Around Gilla, eight Blood Golems were rising.
“With eight Blood Golems linked to me, I’m invincible. Any damage I take will regenerate.”
Right on cue, one Blood Golem grabbed a fellow cultist and drained their blood. The wound Gilla had received earlier from Erzebet on her shoulder quickly healed.
“No one can break through my defense…!”
Sreeek. Sreeek. Sreeek.
Flashes of dark-blue light flickered all around the Blood Golems. Lines appeared across their bodies.
[How pitiful.]
As Erzebet flung her arms, a shattering noise erupted, and all eight Golems collapsed at once.
“…Ah!”
Erzebet twisted her lips.
[Strange. The Blood Golems my master learned in Keyzen weren’t this fragile. Are yours just mass-produced toys?]
Tick.
T-dik.
Lines began appearing all over Gilla’s body now.
[And the key trait of a Blood Golem—]
Erzebet grinned wickedly.
[They share damage with the caster. Correct?]
“N-No!”
As she looked at the countless scratches appearing all over her, Gilla grabbed her head in horror.
“No…!!”
SPLAAAAAAAT!
Blood burst from her like an explosion. Her mangled body no longer moved.
Erzebet flicked her hands clean as if they’d been dirtied.
“She wasn’t even worth dirtying my hands. My darlings, leave none alive, annihilate our master’s enemies!”
–KIIIIIIIIII!
The swarm of Corpse Spiders descended upon the Blood Heaven Cultists like hawks on prey.
* * *
The northern desert was filled with the cries of monstrous birds.
The 7th Legion’s new undead—Skullwings.
Based on the harpy, a half-human, half-bird monster, Skullwings had human skulls and skeletons for their upper bodies, and slender bird bones from the waist down.
As undead, most of the Darkness from a Skullwing’s Core flowed into its wings.
Though entirely skeletal, scattered feathers made of Darkness clung to them, granting a peculiar appearance. With these, they dashed through the skies at high speed and snatched prey from the ground with their talons.
“Ugh, aaaaaaaah!”
They either dropped their prey from high above or tore into their necks with their beaks.
“Watch out for the falling feathers!”
“Filthy undead! What a nuisance!”
The feathers that naturally shed during their flight carried lethal curses for the living.
Plagues, burns, pain.
A variety of curses, randomly embedded.
The moment one is caught by a Skullwing and wrapped in those feathers, they writhe in unbearable agony until death.
“They’re coming from above, nonstop!”
“Fire the Blood Arrows!”
The Blood Zombies, with no anti-air capability, were of little help.
They stood around dumbly, only to be plucked away by the Skullwings. Most of the Blood Heaven Cultists, meanwhile, had lost their minds due to Blood Core side effects and substance abuse. They were in no shape to respond properly.
And at the highest altitude—
The ancient undead, Akemius, stood with arms crossed, gazing down at the enemy from the sky.
His blackish-blue feathered wings, made from Simon’s Darkness, fluttered majestically.
[I've built the nest, but the numbers are still too few.]
Akemius, having only recently begun mass-producing undead, had fewer troops compared to Prince and Erzebet. He was operating each Skullwing with utmost care, like elite units.
However—
[Already lost ten of them.]
A man with a topknot, wielding tonfa in both hands—Bishop Anvante of the Blood Heaven Cult.
He was strong.
He had taken down over ten Skullwings by himself. Their corpses, shot down by his projectiles, littered the ground.
“When are you coming down, general undead?”
The man provocatively raised his tonfa skyward. With a cold expression, Akemius shot down from the air.
Then—
SHREEEEEEEEEEEEEK!
Like a black comet, he plunged from the sky in seconds and slammed into Anvante.
BOOM!
An explosion erupted, sending sand blasting into the sky like a geyser.
As the sand settled with a hiss, Akemius’ feet and Anvante’s tonfa clashed in a tense power struggle, holding firm against one another.
“I’m not like Golos or Gilla.”
Click.
Anvante aimed his other tonfa at Akemius.
RATATATATATATATATA!
Bullets burst from holes in the tonfa. Each was a Bloodshot, forged from blood.
Akemius shielded himself with his wings and backed off.
[Hmm.]
His expression tightened. The feathers of his wings, tougher than steel, were falling out in tufts.
“I don’t care about the Blood Heaven Cult or whatever. I’m an ex-merc from the Neutral Zone. Just got scouted ‘cause I’m strong as hell’.”
Anvante shrugged as he continued.
“You seem strong too, so how about we just half-ass this fight and call it a draw.”
[…Half-ass it?]
RUMMMMMMMBLE!
A massive wave of Darkness surged from Akemius’ body.
[There is no ‘half-ass’! I swore to burn my body, soul, and even my thoughts for my young master. And!]
The ever-stoic and composed Akemius twisted his mouth into a monstrous grin.
[How dare you damage the wings given to me by the young master!!]
SKREEEEEEEEEEEEECH!
A wide-area sonic curse erupted. Cultists screamed, blood pouring from their ears, and the Blood Zombies collapsed backward in droves.
[I’ll kill you, human!!]
“W-Whoa…”
Anvante wore an expression that screamed, ‘I picked the wrong fight.’
Akemius charged, trailing Darkness behind him like a curtain.
“Charge.”
RUMBLEEEEEEEEE!
Simon personally led thousands of mummies and struck at Sillage’s main camp.
Though the ancient undead summoned by Herseba were overwhelming, simply stalling would eventually turn things in their favor—but unfortunately, Herseba didn’t have the luxury of time.
All she had managed was to delay the collapse of the barrier through the power of legion formation. Her strength would soon be exhausted.
And the moment the barrier fell, all advantages would vanish.
Unlike the Blood Heaven Cultists who came through the portal, the ancient undead were only temporarily “called forth” by Herseba’s abilities. When her domain vanished, so would the summoned undead.
So Simon made his decision.
-KYAGYAGYAGYAGYAG!
-KYAGAK!
To strike Sillage directly.
“Come forth.”
A magic circle drawn on Simon’s waist lit up. A turquoise light flared upward and infused the nearby mummies.
Their bandages turned turquoise, and a glow flashed in their eyes.
<Simon Original - Royal Guard Mummies>
He successfully formed a Royal Guard with ten mummies.
These mummies, personally under Simon’s command, stuck close to him.
“Break through!”
Simon shoute.
“Stop them.”
Sillage sent in cultists and Blood Zombies. Soon, the two forces clashed in a chaotic melee.
Zombies and mummies bit and tore at each other, while cultists unleashed blood-based magic.
“Take out the necromancer first!”
Blood Heaven Cultists targeted Simon from the air.
But—
SLASHSLASHSLASHSLASH!
Emerald-glowing bandages flew and slashed or flung them away.
As the Royal Guard, tasked with protecting their legion commander, these mummies were exceptionally powerful.
-KYAGYAGYAGYAGYAG!
Meanwhile, regular mummies had reached Sillage.
Still clutching his left chest in pain, Sillage grimaced as if suffering from heartache.
“Tch.”
He extended his hand, and countless blood droplets shot forth, triggering chain explosions in the front line. Despite the blood cost, he continued firing recklessly.
BOOMBOOMBOOM!
THUD!
Mummies were torn apart and drenched in blood, collapsing to the ground. But more kept surging over their fallen comrades.
“Annoying pests.”
Just as Sillage began channeling a larger spell—
SLASH!
A bandage shot up from the ground, slicing through Sillage’s leg.
“!”
His leg fell to the sandy floor with a thud. From the ground rose a Royal Guard mummy, glowing ominously from its eyes.
“How does it feel, getting hit by a technique you taught?”
As the blood explosions cleared, Simon approached wielding his greatsword of destruction. Sillage gave a rough smile.
“So, I really did raise a little monster.”
His hollow right foot quickly filled with blood, forming a temporary leg.
Simon leapt with force and swung down his greatsword. Sillage responded by raising a Blood Sword with his hand.
CLAAAAAAANG!
The blades of the two men clashed midair, sending out a massive shockwave.
Their eyes met, flashing with intensity between the blades.
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters