Chapter 510
Tak!
Simon charged toward the shattered Dungeon Master.
Even Nirti, her reason clouded by Chaos, seemed to decide that she must stop this no matter what. She hauled her unstable giant body forward at him.
“!”
In an instant, shadows blanketed the surroundings as the massive arms of the chimeras came crashing down.
[No chance!]
At that moment, Prince leapt into the air and pulled back his fist. Once again—
Zzzzeooooong!
Hidden Card Punch.
The blow landed squarely in the chest. With a thunderous boom, Nirti’s massive body collapsed to the ground.
‘Well done, Prince!’
While Prince bought time, Simon reached the Dungeon Master without incident.
It still hadn’t regenerated, unable to because of Akemius’ curse, despite its immortal ability. Simon once again admired Akemius’ precision work, then thrust the Greatsword of Destruction straight down into the Dungeon Master’s chest.
With a sickening sound of tearing flesh, the blade pierced clean through its chest.
‘Kal!’
Simon’s eyes widened.
‘Please!’
Shhhhhh—
Then, an alien, dog-like figure burst out from the greatsword, chomping and gnawing away at the Dungeon Master. As it devoured the Dungeon Master, the Greatsword of Destruction began to glow a vivid green.
While Simon focused on consuming the Dungeon Master through the sword, Prince and Kajan relentlessly drew Nirti’s attention.
Bang!
Prince was struck by Nirti’s fist and slammed into the wall. His descent state broke, reverting him to an ordinary zombie.
<Kajan’s Original – Fang>
Kajan leapt into the air, body bent like a backward C, and slashed down with both arms, gouging a huge wound across the chimera’s body.
But ignoring the damage, Nirti swung a leg and sent Kajan flying.
[My power is infinite!]
Nirti advanced, wrapped in the hulking body of countless chimeras.
[No matter how you struggle! In this dungeon, you cannot defeat me!]
“Maybe so.”
Shrrring!
At last, Simon finished absorbing the Dungeon Master through Kal’s power. He lowered the greatsword toward the floor.
“That’s why I’ll remove that home advantage first.”
Kwaaak!
Simon drove the greatsword into the dungeon floor.
Vein-like nerve cords spread outward from the point, as though sprouting blood vessels.
‘Kal’s second authority.’
The mysterious power that the Executioners had so desperately sought.
The ability to devour a Dungeon Master, seize its authority, and dominate the dungeon.
──────────!
An avalanche of data flooded Simon’s mind.
He staggered, pressing his forehead, enduring the influx. It was the same sensation as the first time he used Compellonia.
Symbols and languages alien to human perception, yet he could understand them. This was his power now.
Gripping the greatsword, Simon drew in a deep breath. Then he willingly plunged himself into the unknown sea.
Swimming through the data, tracing the veins of knowledge and information, at last he found it.
‘Immortality.’
His mind blazed.
‘Erase this function completely from my dungeon.’
Then he severed the “vein” tied to immortality.
[A… Aaahhhhhhh!]
The effect was immediate.
When Simon opened his eyes, the chimeras forming Nirti’s body began to disintegrate into dust, vanishing like things that were never meant to exist in the first place.
Simon pulled the greatsword free of the floor and let out a weary smile.
“…Hard to believe even seeing it.”
Kajan, who had come to protect Simon, muttered blankly.
“What did you do, Simon?”
“Simple. With Kal’s ability, I took control of the dungeon and deleted the power of immortality from it.”
Simon lifted his head.
“All those creatures had immortality, which is why such extreme chimeras could even exist. Disable just that, and it’s easy.”
The surroundings filled with crumbling debris and drifting dust.
Soon, all the chimeras were gone. Only Nirti remained, flailing helplessly at the dust as if trying to hold it together.
Her shoulder and right arm had been blown off by the Greatsword of Destruction, and one leg was pulp.
A pitiful end for the chief researcher of the Executioners, who had once controlled such a colossal body.
“Accept it, Nirti.”
Step—step—
Simon slung the greatsword over his shoulder and walked toward her.
“It’s your defeat.”
Her unfocused eyes slowly turned to look at Simon. Her fighting spirit was completely gone.
“…I only wanted everyone to know.”
She muttered vacantly.
“About Tarados, who cast me into the abyss… and the disgusting world, full of nothing but contempt, where not one soul reached out a hand. I wanted them to know my pain, even just a ten-thousandth of it.”
Her eyes rolled.
“Going to preach to me, Keyzen’s Student Council President?”
Simon closed his eyes and rubbed his throat.
“No sermon. But the moment your rage lost its way and flooded in a twisted direction, even if it wasn’t me, this catastrophe was inevitable.”
“……”
“Blinded by rage, those who killed your parents. Blinded by rage, you turned Tarados into hell. What’s the real difference between you and them?”
Her eyes suddenly sharpened. Her eyelids quivered, then a faint, resigned smile spread across her lips.
“…Heh.”
Shrrrr—
Her body began to dissipate.
Immortality.
It seemed she hadn’t only given it to her test subjects, but to her own body as well.
If she was vanishing now, it meant only one thing.
Her life had long since expired, and only immortality had been sustaining her.
“Spill it, Nirti. For the last time.”
Simon crouched down.
“If even a shred of guilt remains in you as a human, tell me about the Executioners’ dreadful plan.”
She grinned faintly.
Then—
She moved her lips, whispering something softly.
Shrrrrrr—
Her body dissolved completely and was gone.
* * *
Simon, having seized control of the dungeon, caused the entire army of immortals swarming within it to vanish.
The people Serne had rescued, along with the experimental subjects who hadn’t yet become undead through immortality, were able to escape the prison.
But they couldn’t flee outside just yet.
Kruooooooo!
The Ancient Undead of Magnus’ Legion—Alaze—and the colossal undeads he commanded were still battling outside the dungeon.
The military tents outside burned, the ground cracked apart like an earthquake.
The Ganes Guild and the regular soldiers fighting Alaze were mostly incapacitated. For now, the Gold Mine Dungeon under Simon’s control was the safer place.
[Loraine Arkbold. Beyond imagination. Allied losses catastrophic.]
Alaze muttered.
[5th Legion’s top power. Defeated 8 of Gremore’s 10 giants single-handedly.]
Around Alaze, only the lower halves of giants remained, their bodies neatly severed and kneeling on the ground.
Now only two of Gremore’s giants were left.
[Even so, the operation proceeds. Kal retrieval operation—commence.]
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The two remaining Gremores lumbered past the war tents, heading toward the Gold Mine Dungeon.
“They’re coming! We must escape from here!”
“Everyone, get upstairs!”
The townsfolk who had been imprisoned, along with soldiers and thieves who survived the 5th Legion’s battle, hurried to take shelter deeper inside the Gold Mine Dungeon. Loraine and General Amin were among them.
“Haa… haa…”
Loraine, clutching her crimson dagger, was gasping for breath.
‘…Foolish. I couldn’t pace myself, trying to protect everyone while fighting.’
She lifted her head, still panting. Amin, supporting her at her side, spoke earnestly:
“Lady Loraine! You must retreat upstairs!”
“No. I can still fight. If those things get through, the people will—!”
Sway—
Just then, a single feather drifted down from the ceiling and landed on her shoulder.
[Step back. Simon says he’ll handle them himself.]
Loraine’s face showed both shock and confusion.
“Simon? After fighting Nirti, he shouldn’t have any strength left.”
[Heh. He must have a plan.]
Boom—Boom—
At last, the two colossal undead Gremores entered the Gold Mine Dongeon, Alaze spreading space open as he stepped inside.
No one was visible around them.
[Searching for the Master of Plague, Kal. Initiating sweep down to B3.]
“It’s been a while, 5th Legion.”
At that moment, a boy emerged from the dungeon’s darkness—wearing Feer’s skull over his head and holding a greatsword.
Alaze’s eyes gleamed.
[7th Legion Commander, Simon Follentia.]
“You’re the Ancient Undead of the 5th Legion, right? Looking for our Kal, by any chance?”
Simon raised the greatsword.
“He’s right here.”
Green light flickered across the blade, smoke pouring out to take the form of a dog.
The expression on Alaze’s face hardened coldly as he perched on the Gremore’s shoulder.
[Recovery failed. Ancient Undead Kal. Confirmed destroyed. Operation failed.]
“You know your stuff.”
Simon lowered the sword with a faint grin.
“Then how about retreating quietly?”
[By Alaze’s judgment—operation change.]
From the bodies of the two giant Gremores surged a murderous Darkness.
[Simon Follentia. Capture. Retrieval of Kal along with the entire 7th Legion’s Ancient Undeads. Operation—commence.]
The hulking Gremores began lumbering forward.
Simon muttered, “Knew it”, and thrust his greatsword into the ground.
“Mistake.”
Shhhhhhhh!
As the blade struck the dungeon floor, nerve-like cords shot outward along the ground, up the walls, and into the ceiling.
“This is my dungeon now.”
Rumble rumble rumble!
Suddenly, the dungeon’s floor and walls shifted like a twisting labyrinth, the entire structure warping. The Gremores hastily stopped in their tracks.
“Capture.”
Simon stretched out his hand, and the dungeon’s walls and floor surged upward like serpents, coiling around the Gremores.
[What—!]
Simon clenched his fist.
“I can use every function of this dungeon.”
Crunch! Crunch!
The warped dungeon constricted around the Gremores. From the walls, dungeon monsters burst out, gnawing and biting at the giants’ bodies.
As though the entire dungeon itself sought to kill the intruders.
[Impossible. Impossible phenomenon.]
Alaze shouted. Simon shook his clenched fist roughly.
“Nothing’s impossible, Ancient Undead.”
Puhhhk! Wham!
The Gremores’ flesh ruptured, their bodies reduced to complete pulp. When Simon opened his palm, what was left—no longer even undead—sloughed away as lumps of meat and fluids, splattering to the ground.
[Alaze. Escape.]
Alaze perched on a shoulder tried to dart away, but Simon’s movement was faster.
The dungeon’s ceiling collapsed, coiling around Alaze and locking him inside a prison.
“Cautious, aren’t you? This isn’t your true body either, just a clone.”
Rrrrumble!
Simon tapped the dungeon floor twice with his boot, and a column of stone rose to stand before Alaze’s prison.
“Give this message to your Legion Commander, Magnus.”
Simon leaned his head forward, smiling.
“Stop meddling in other people’s affairs. Soon, let’s have the Legions clash for real.”
He snapped his fingers—snap!—and the prison collapsed, destroying Alaze’s clone.
Now that he had gained the power of Kal, Simon feared nothing.
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters