Chapter 592
The war situation was so fierce that it was impossible to predict even a step ahead.
One side of the fortress wall collapsed, and then Mimickers began pouring out right in the middle of the stronghold.
"ⴟⴀºⴈ!"
The Gahal tribe reacted first. Since that was where women and children were hiding, the warriors guarding the walls swiftly rushed down.
"Ooh."
Shrrng!
And from the enemy ranks, a man walked leisurely as if strolling, swinging a massive butcher’s knife.
"More! Aren’t there any stronger ones?"
Shrrng!
Each time his cleaver flashed, Gahal heads were sent flying. He lowered his stance, gathered strength in his thighs, and shot forward in a single burst.
The warriors caught in his range glanced back for an instant, and their heads went flying sky-high.
"Hahaha! Nothing cuts better than this! Hm?"
In the distance, a girl in a black school uniform was blocking the onrushing monsters. She commanded skeletons with ease.
"Finally found you. Keyzen!"
He picked up several severed Gahal heads from the ground and trudged toward her.
"Who could it be! Who could it be! Platinum hair, blue hair, platinum hair, blue hair…"
As he muttered and walked, what entered his sight was neither, but a girl with orange hair. He clicked his tongue in disappointment.
"Oh!"
The girl too spotted the butcher, pointing at him with her finger.
"That man is—!"
"What a coincidence! Did you enjoy the reindeer meat?"
It was Eshu Arzel.
"If that was delicious, how about this meat?"
The butcher hurled a severed human head. When several heads rolled to her feet, Eshu squeezed her eyes shut and shrieked in horror.
"A perfect opening. Thanks."
The butcher stomped on Darkness and lunged.
"I won’t kill you, but you’ll at least get to feel the slice!"
His cleaver shot toward her legs. With a srrkk! her legs were severed.
"Hahahaha! Hm?"
But his laughter twisted into disgust.
The sensation traveling up his cleaver was unbearably repulsive. It wasn’t the texture of flesh at all.
Poof!
The severed body of Eshu turned into a straw doll.
—I’m really disappointed! I thought you were a nice man!
Her voice echoed like a phantom. On the straw doll’s torso was inscribed a curse magic circle.
BOOOOM!
The magic circle exploded, black smoke engulfing the butcher.
Meanwhile, the real Eshu was already running frantically some distance away, clutching her communication crystal.
"This is Eshu! This is Eshu! A strange man has entered!"
Crackle!
—Describe in detail.
"Sighted yesterday near the village! Suspected third party, not Gahal! He suddenly swung his knife at me—"
CRAAAANG!
The cleaver came flying, smashing her crystal against the wall. She froze with a gasp.
"Was that necessary? To give me such a foul cutting sensation."
The butcher growled as he walked closer.
With a flick of his arm, the giant cleaver snapped back into his grip. Eshu narrowed her eyes in disbelief.
‘He should’ve been paralyzed by the convulsion curse…’
Indeed, the curse had taken effect: his skin was covered with reddish hives.
But that was all. The curse’s power was already fading.
"As expected of Keyzen’s bunch. I thought if I threw a real head at you brats playing war games, you’d wet yourselves. But you managed to flee and counterattack."
Eshu backed away, scanning her surroundings.
There was nowhere to run. Her opponent was a Magical Combat specialist with curse resistance. Even if she ran, he would catch her.
"As if I’d be scared of severed heads."
Finally she stopped, pushing her hands forward.
"At school, all we do is dissect and reassemble corpses."
"So. You’re going to fight back, cornered like this?"
"And what makes you think I’m the one cornered?"
Tok—tok—tok!
Totodok—totok—tok—tok!
The butcher halted and looked around.
From the rooftops, the walls, and the ground, countless white doll-like baby spirits were bouncing into view.
Their numbers were immeasurable.
The entire district was covered in dolls.
"You’re the one cornered."
"Interesting."
The butcher spun his cleaver in his hand, grinning with bared teeth.
"Show me the ultimate cutting sensation this time."
* * *
The black school uniform’s hem flared wildly as the boy strode through the enemy camp. Each time his limbs moved, leaving afterimages, Mimickers went flying.
— Kieeee!
An Mimicker behind him kicked at Simon. Without turning, Simon caught it between his index and middle fingers.
"Imitating me? Sorry, but…"
CRACK!
Simon spun again, slamming his kick into its face.
"A poor imitation is worse than none."
CRAAAASH!
The Mimicker crashed through a wooden house wall. Simon lowered his leg and stared straight ahead.
‘Something’s wrong.’
Among the countless Mimickers, some were unnaturally strong.
‘Like this one!’
He cloaked his arm in Darkness to block a sword thrust aimed at his chest.
‘And they’re not even trying to kill me.’
Clang!
He deflected the blade. The Mimicker twisted midair, rebounded off a wall, and rushed again.
Simon clenched his teeth, Darkness rising in his right hand.
<Hongpeng’s Original – Impalement>
SHHHHRRAAACK!
Lines split the surroundings, every Mimicker struck spewing green blood and collapsing. But one dropping from above twisted its sword to block the strike.
‘So their combat technique is different… huh?’
Simon’s eyes widened.
From the Mimicker’s shoulder where the strike grazed, red blood spurted. All others had bled green.
— KIEEEEEE!
No time to think—Mimickers swarmed from every side. The red-blooded one too kept its distance, eyes fixed on Simon.
He tapped the ground lightly with his left foot.
‘Open Gate.’
Shrrrrrrrrk!
From the subspace underfoot, Overlord’s blade lifted Simon’s soles and shot upward.
He burst straight through the straw roof to the top.
There, zombies he had planted earlier roamed the rooftop.
Simon vaulted off Overlord once more into the air.
"Corpse—"
The zombies eagerly ripped through the roof, diving down into the house below.
Simon clenched his fist from above.
"—Explosion."
BOOOOOOOM!
A deafening blast ripped the air. The monsters below were neatly annihilated.
Landing, Simon entered the blast zone.
Among the remains lay the Mimicker bleeding red.
Half of its body was even reverting to a human form.
‘So they infiltrated disguised as monsters.’
Simon’s expression hardened. The figure writhed.
"Wa-wait…! I can still—!"
But after jerking for a while, it collapsed limply.
Checking the body, Simon noted a curse had activated inside.
‘Suicide.’
Simon clenched his fist tight and strode on.
He could feel an especially alien aura ahead.
Before him opened a vast space.
‘A Warp Gate!’
After making sure no one was nearby, Simon stretched out his arm.
"Feer!"
[I’ve been waiting!]
From subspace emerged Feer’s greatsword. Simon seized it and swung with all his might.
WHOOOOOSH!
The Warp Gate closed, and at last, the stream of monsters rushing in from outside the fortress was cut off.
* * *
"Hahahahahaha!"
The butcher swung the cleavers in his hands madly. Before long, cursed dolls lay scattered everywhere as if white snow had fallen across the world.
"Where are you hiding?! When I catch you, I’ll slice you real painfully! Hahaha!"
Behind a building, Eshu clutched her chest, panting heavily.
‘What kind of monster is that?!’
There seemed no chance of winning.
She had to escape.
"Found. You."
Her pupils trembled.
From the very window of the house against her back, the butcher suddenly poked his head in with a mocking "peek-a-boo".
BAAANG!!
At that instant, a giant teddy bear doll charged in and smashed straight into the butcher’s face.
"Oof."
He was shoved hard against the wall but only chuckled, showing not a hint of tension.
"A cute bit of black magic."
Eshu’s teddy bear charged, but with a single graceful slash, the butcher carved it neatly into six pieces.
"Hmph."
The cotton stuffing inside scattered across his body. Of course, even the cotton carried curse effects, but crimson veins bulged across his skin before he immediately broke free of it.
"Urghhh! What the hell is with this guy?! Somebody help meee!"
Eshu shrieked as she bolted. The butcher vaulted after her, bounding off rooftops.
"I’m sick and tired of slicing straw and cotton!"
His eyes glowed sharply.
The moment his body shot straight down at Eshu—
"?!"
The hem of a gray skirt flickered before his eyes, followed by the impact of a boot slamming into his face.
CRRRUNCH!
His body shot in a straight line and crashed into the wall.
"Aaaargh!"
For the first time, a pained scream burst from him, echoing beyond the collapsed house.
"Is cutting open schoolkids the trend in this place?!"
Tap.
Landing before Eshu was a girl with flowing black hair. Eshu cried out tearfully:
"Lo, Loraineee!"
Loraine glanced back.
"Are you alright, Eshu?"
"Yes! I’m fine!"
"Eshu!"
Toto came running up.
"I saw you from the wall and rushed here on a Death Worm—"
Thud.
Toto’s face flushed. Eshu had collapsed limply into his arms.
"Uuugh, my, my legs cramped… the tension’s wearing off."
"Toto."
Loraine’s voice was calm and commanding.
"Take Eshu and get out of here now."
"R-right!"
At his gesture, a Death Worm erupted from the ground, its maw gaping wide. In an instant it swallowed them both and tunneled away.
"Let’s see now…"
From the rubble of the ruined building, the butcher brushed himself off and stood.
His face still showed no sign of real injury.
"Platinum hair, blue hair, platinum hair, blue hair. Tch, neither one of you."
"……"
Loraine’s face turned cold.
"Blue hair?"
"Yeah, I’ve got business with that one, so why don’t you just—"
WOOOOOOOSH!
Without hesitation, she released the seal on her choker. Her jet-black hair flared, rising like fire.
"Then I guess I have business with you now."
She waved her hand, and the air itself split open like a monster’s maw, within which countless red pupils identical to her own glared out.
"O-oh."
Seeing this, the butcher awkwardly shifted his stance.
"…Feels like I picked the wrong fight."
* * *
"Kyaaaah!"
"What was that?! What just happened?!"
Students guarding the wall stumbled back in shock. A pitch-black puddle moved beneath, its gaze sweeping across them.
‘Not this one. Not her either.’
It was the one-eyed gentleman who had entered with the butcher.
‘We’ve already caused too much noise. Before the Keyzen professors find us, we must capture Simon Follentia.’
His single eye darted wildly, scanning the faces of students in black uniforms.
But there was no trace of Simon Follentia or Serne Eindark.
‘First, I’ll circle the entire wall—’
CRACK!
Suddenly his face crumpled, his body hurled skyward.
CRAAAASH!
The one-eyed gentleman rolled miserably across the ground.
‘What the—!’
The force and speed of the blow had been beyond comprehension.
As he rolled his eye upward, he saw a boy with both hands stuffed in his uniform pockets, one leg lifted casually, his expression bored.
Patchy dragon scales clung across his body, and drooping dragon wings hung from his back.
"Who the hell are you?"
The boy’s eyes brimmed with weariness. The one-eyed gentleman’s pupil spun.
‘Hector Moore. According to the eavesdropped reports, he was the student commander. In that case…’
Rrrumble…
The one-eyed man jerked himself up like a puppet.
A vast surge of Darkness erupted from him like jagged spikes. Its curse effect spread, and nearby students recoiled in terror.
A curse of fear.
Fear was among the best tools to control humans.
"An outsider targeting students, then."
Hector spoke lazily, though it was clear he had already gauged his opponent’s strength.
[I am searching for the blue-haired boy.]
Hector’s brow twitched.
"Blue hair?"
[Yes. Hand him over, and I shall withdra—]
CRRRRUNCH!
He couldn’t finish.
A massive dragon’s claw smashed his head into the ground.
RUMMMMBLE!
The wall quaked, debris showering down.
"F***. F***! Everyone’s after Simon Follentia! Simon Follentia!!"
Hector’s eyes twisted with uncontrollable rage.
[Wait—!]
"I’m the one who’s going to crush him!"
BOOOOOOM!
With his other arm, Hector drove the one-eyed man’s skull mercilessly into the dirt.
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters