Chapter 595
Drops of blood dripped down from the butcher’s body. Yet he calmly let out a muffled laugh.
“You’ve got a lot of questions? I don’t think I’ve got much to answer.”
“Your opinion doesn’t matter.”
A dark blue light flickered in Simon’s eyes.
“I’ll find out by any means necessary.”
“Interesting. Kid!”
Crunch.
In an instant, the veins on the butcher’s hand, gripping his cleaver, bulged.
‘He still has strength...!’
Simon stepped back, and the butcher lunged forward. As he did, the six swords of the Royal Guard stuck in his back pulled free with a gruesome sound.
Simon reacted immediately.
‘Open Gate!’
Subspace opened, and blade-like tentacles, resembling metallic serpents, surged in from all directions. But the butcher raised two small cleavers and knocked the tentacles aside as he advanced.
“I’ve never once received proper black magic education in my life.”
In a flash, he was already right before Simon, who stood among the Overlord. His cleaver screeched as it swung toward Simon’s neck.
“Not a school, not a master. But I was always the one who won!”
Simon thrust out his arm. One of the Royal Guard’s sword flew into his hand, and he used it to catch the cleaver. With a thunderous crash, both men staggered back.
“Those who asked where I belonged, what rank I was, where I graduated from—without a single exception, they all ended up hacked into meat in my hands!”
He licked the blade of his cleaver. A long gash opened on his tongue, and blood dripped down the cleaver.
“The one who wins is the strong one, Simon Follentia.”
“Mhm.”
Simon twirled the Royal Guard’s sword in his hand.
“Agreed. Assassin.”
The two men charged toward each other at once.
The butcher was alone, but Simon had twenty Royal Guards. Twenty streaks of turquoise sword strikes came crashing down, leaving no opening.
“Tch!”
There was no room to slip through.
The butcher finally flung himself, breaking out of the encirclement. As he did, the turquoise blades grazed his body, carving deep and shallow wounds across his skin.
Sssss—!
Meanwhile, the small wounds on Simon’s body healed. The butcher’s eyes narrowed at the sight.
“A summoned beast with vampiric effects, just like a Blood Golem.”
Simon grinned and pressed the attack harder.
Claaang! Clang! Clang! Clang!
Dozens of turquoise blades collided in succession with the two small cleavers. In the blink of an eye, the house around them was demolished, and their battle spilled outdoors.
Across the streets.
Across rooftops.
Even climbing the fortress walls, their blades clashed.
Students, who had stopped their own fighting, gaped in awe at the sight.
“P-Professor Aron! Shouldn’t we join in—!”
“Stand down.”
Aron stretched out an arm, blocking his assistants.
“Leave it to Simon.”
The rising sun slowly lit up the two men locked in their deadly duel.
Every gaze in the fortress turned to them.
“Do your best.”
From a short distance away, Loraine watched with her hand over her chest.
“Well, as expected—”
Serne sat casually with her legs crossed, chin resting in her palm. Around her lay assassins, turned into Mimickers, collapsed in pools of blood.
“...Tch.”
Hector, still receiving treatment for his wounds from the one-eyed gentleman, clicked his tongue in irritation.
KAAAAANG!
The clash of steel shattered the dawn.
“Everything in this world is information! Every movement of the opponent, every habit in wielding Darkness!”
The butcher surged forward, cleaver swinging.
Simon hurled a Chaos Spear with his left hand for cover and thrust forward with the Royal Guard’s sword in his right.
Clash—!
Their blades collided right before their cheeks, their eyes locking.
“So many skeletons, yet you’re so careful with their lives! Just because you don’t want to waste them? No, that’s not it!”
The butcher flicked a hidden cleaver from his clothes, striking down a Royal Guard from behind.
Crash!
The Royal Guard shattered. Simon frowned instinctively.
“A technique that shares damage with the summons! Isn’t that right?”
“If you had actually studied properly, you’d have been far more dangerous.”
Clang!
Simon shoved aside the cleaver with the Royal Guard’s sword as he spoke.
“Hah! Did I hit the mark?”
“Sorry, but the fact that I share damage with the Royal Guard is already common knowledge. And besides...”
Simon pushed one Royal Guard forward. The butcher grinned and swung his cleaver to devour it, but the guard’s turquoise light faded, crumbling into nothing.
“!”
Meanwhile, Simon was already pulling two violet spears from his waist.
“Using that is my formula for victory.”
Crack!
Crunch!
He drove both violet spears into the butcher’s ankles.
A groan of pain slipped from between the butcher’s teeth as Simon leapt into the air, stepping on Darkness.
“Urgh! Hahahaha! You got me good this time!”
Simon reached out his arm in midair.
All the Royal Guards collapsed like marionettes with their strings cut, their energy rushing into Simon.
The turquoise glow faded, transforming into pitch-black.
After the Blood Arrow and Blood Sword, this was a new technique inspired by the “future Simon” Serne had spoken of.
<Simon Remake – Blood Orb>
Rumble—!
A black sphere formed in his hand.
“Splendid!”
The butcher licked his lips, his ankles pinned. Against the dawn light, he twirled his cleavers as he looked up at Simon.
“Not yet.”
The skeletons, freed from their guard state, rushed forward, scooping up fallen Chaos Spears from the battlefield and hurling them into the sky.
The violet power of the Chaos Spears converged into the orb, wrapping its black core in violet light.
“Here we go.”
Black magic transformed again.
<Simon Original – Chaos Orb>
Simon gently pushed the violet orb forward from his palm.
“So this time it’s firepower, huh!”
The moment it left his hand, the orb unleashed waves of destructive force. The butcher, still bound by his ankles, crossed his cleavers in front of him.
‘If I can deflect that back at him, I win!’
His legs braced, tendons bulging, his grip on the cleavers so tight goosebumps rose.
Thunk—
The orb touched the cleavers with a soft sound.
“?!”
The butcher instantly knew.
This was a technique that couldn’t be blocked.
The orb crushed through the cleavers, pressed down on his abdomen, and drove him into the ground.
Rumble—!
His back slammed against the fortress floor.
Crack—!
It broke through, slamming his body deeper down.
KWA-KWA-KWA-KWA-KWAAAA!
The fortress wall buckled and bent into a U-shape.
Onlookers gaped, while the Gahal warriors shrieked in terror, fleeing as if from a natural disaster.
At last—
CRASH—!
The Chaos Orb collapsed an entire section of the wall, drove the butcher down to the ground below, and finally dissipated. His eyes rolled white as he lay sprawled.
‘A technique that converts explosive force into physical power.’
Simon, panting, let out a grin.
‘This is how it’s done, right? Future me.’
WAAAAAHHHH!
As if on cue, a deafening cheer erupted all around.
* * *
Three hours later.
Outside the fortress.
The war had ended, and corpses of Mimickers littered the ground.
Arrows everywhere, and craters left by Grerion’s firepower marked the battlefield.
“Ah, thought this was a Guardian.”
“What’s the point of looting corpses? The others probably already took everything.”
“Then go back if you want.”
Keyzen students scoured the area, clinging to their last bit of hope. They were the ones who had failed to obtain a Guardian in this battle.
Thud!
Thud!
The skeletons under their control finished off the few remaining Mimickers that were still twitching. The students walked along, chatting idly.
And beneath one of those corpses—
Crrrk—
A tiny piece of flesh hid itself.
The body was gone, leaving only the one-eyed gentleman’s eyeball drifting through a pool of Darkness.
‘Another failure, huh.’
The eyeball shifted faintly.
‘What a good chance this was. If I could have secured Simon Follentia, I could’ve been reinstated as an executive of the Executioners.’
Aron, who had stopped him.
Grerion, who had wiped out hordes of monsters with sheer firepower.
Even among the students, there were many formidable fighters.
He had thought he could snatch Simon Follentia quietly amidst the chaos, but perhaps he had underestimated the situation. Bringing in the uncontrollable butcher was a mistake as well.
‘I’ll return, rebuild my body, and try again…’
[Caught you.]
His drifting body froze among the dense thickets.
‘!’
Somehow, the one-eyed gentleman’s eyeball had been snagged in a web. Threads stretched out in every direction.
And in the middle of it, perched lightly on a strand of silk, sat a girl.
‘A Keyzen student?’
She had pink hair and wore the Keyzen uniform, though it hardly suited her. The tie hung loosely around her neck, the jacket tied around her waist.
‘Why didn’t I sense her presence? Wait—this Darkness…!’
That same bloodthirsty aura he’d felt in Frigod Village.
Now he was sure. This girl was the monstrous being that had taken Simon Follentia’s form.
[So it was you.]
Her web sank into the pool of Darkness below the eyeball, dragging out the mangled corpse that Aron had crushed earlier.
[As expected, you were an undead, weren’t you?]
‘……!’
[An undead with reason, thinking like a human. But calling you an Ancient Undead like this girl would be giving you too much credit.]
The one-eyed gentleman’s eyeball trembled violently.
Why was an Ancient Undead here?
‘No way…’
Yesterday, in the village, he had realized she had walked around disguised as Simon Follentia.
This was no coincidence. Could it be that Simon was controlling her? Drawing them in?
If so—
‘Then Simon Follentia is a Legion Commander!’
That was decisive information. Even just delivering to the Executioners the fact that Simon was the seventh would secure his reinstatement.
Yes, everything matched. Neftis herself had recently ordered an investigation into the Seventh Legion Commander within Keyzen.
[If you’re not an Ancient Undead… then what are you?]
Erzebet descended from her web, approaching slowly. She inspected the eyeball snared in her silk, then curled her lips into a smile.
[Ah, an adorable idea. An artificial spirit inserted into an undead body?]
‘……!’
The one-eyed gentleman felt utterly exposed, frozen in fear. Erzebet’s tongue flicked out.
[In this state, I can’t even extract information. The Legion Commander won’t be pleased.]
“N-no! Stop—!”
Crunch!
She pressed a finger into the eyeball, popping it.
Then, brushing off the blood with a flick, she pulled the mangled body out of the Darkness pool.
[Heheh, still—quite the precious find.]
* * *
Simon, too, had come out.
‘Damn, this is bad.’
He held his forehead.
In the chaos of fighting the assassins, he had neglected the most important thing: obtaining a Guardian.
He had promised Aron he would create the best Dullahan among his peers, but without a Guardian, it was impossible.
“Hello~”
A voice called. Simon turned his head.
The pink-haired girl waved.
“E-Erze?”
Simon’s eyes widened. He quickly scanned the area. Fortunately, the other students were too busy searching for Guardian corpses to notice her.
He hurried over.
“What are you doing? Why are you wandering around in a student’s form again?”
“I have something to report.”
The two slipped into the thickets together.
“Whoa… incredible.”
All around, webs filled the area, and corpses of Mimickers lay scattered. Erzebet’s corpse spiders swarmed, gnawing at the flesh.
“You brought your unit?”
“Yes. I thought the numbers might overwhelm you, so I lent a hand. Was that unwanted interference?”
“No, no—you saved me.”
So that explained it. He had thought fewer monsters had stormed the fortress than expected—turns out Erzebet had cut down the numbers.
Next, she revealed the one-eyed gentleman’s corpse.
“Ugh…”
Simon grimaced at the pulped remains.
“What do you expect me to do with this?”
“Inside, it’s not as ruined as it looks. It could serve as valuable research material on the Executioners’ new technology.”
“You’re right. Thanks for thinking of that.”
Simon carefully stored the corpse in subspace.
“Speaking of corpses… did you see any Guardian bodies?”
“Guardians? Ah, those troublesome hulks? Yes, my spiders were fighting some.”
“I need one!”
Simon and Erzebet scoured the forest together.
And then—
“Wait, wait! Don’t eat that!”
They found one.
Corpse spiders clambered over the dead Guardian, trying to eat it, but its armor-like hide kept them from biting through.
Driving them off, Simon sighed in relief.
“Finally, I got one. Thank goodness.”
“But…”
Erzebet lowered her hand.
“The head is missing.”
“!”
Only the torso remained.
Simon and Erzebet searched for the head, but it seemed the unprotected skull had already been devoured by the corpse spiders.
Simon slumped against a tree in dismay.
“Damn it, if only the head remained, I could’ve made it.”
Once today passed, who knew when or where he might find another Guardian?
He could order Erzebet and her spider legion to sweep Frigod District, but there was no way the locals wouldn’t notice. The risk was too great.
‘……’
Simon’s eyes sharpened after a brief silence.
—Bring me a Dullahan so exceptional it shocks me.
This Dullahan evaluation was the most crucial step toward reaching the Bone Dragon.
“Well, in that case…”
“?”
Simon smirked, hoisting up the torso-only Guardian.
“Why not just make it exceptional in a different way?”
Superb.
When are we getting more free chapters?
Thanks for the new chapters
Very good story and translation but half the chapter aren't for free and it is wayyyy too expensive will it stat like tjis foreve or will it get free after some time