Ch.1241Do You Miss Your Mom?

The clash of demigods brings calamity.

“ARGHHHH-!”

“My body, my bodyyy…!”

A surging wave of blood. Melted flesh and shattered bone fragments scatter in all directions, carried by steam, while death rattles and screams echo, mingling with thunderous roars.

– KWAGAGAGAK! KWARRRRRUNG!

A blood-formed hand the size of a house claws and shatters the earth, and from that blood, enormous tentacles emerge, thrashing wildly.

Each time the dark red tentacles slice through the air, toxic blood storms that could melt even stone surge like waves from their trajectories, while their snake-like maws continuously spew crimson lightning.

“KYAAAAK-!”

“Are you insane?! Attacking allies, what suddenly…!”

“Fall back! That’s a corpse! The corpses are coming back to life!”

From the sky, sharp rain falls like arrows, while corpses on the ground resurrect as blood-craving monsters, tearing at the throats of those who were their comrades moments before.

This was the vampiric power that Erzsebet had begun to unleash without restraint, having concluded that Caljarat was a threat requiring immediate elimination.

That mighty power devastated everything around it with just the aftermath of missed attacks, sweeping relentlessly not just through her target Caljarat, but the entire surrounding area.

“Disperse! Disperse! Create distance somehow!”

“That blood! If that blood touches you, you’ll be resurrected as the enemy’s slave! Don’t block it, avoid it!”

The centurions and squad leaders in command shouted at the top of their lungs, their voices filled with urgency and fear.

Avoid it. Retreat. Don’t resist, just flee to escape. That was the only way to survive the divine slaughter.

Courage was nothing but recklessness. What they faced was a river of blood overflowing with murderous intent, a living disaster itself.

It was the remnants of countless lives that the Empress of Blood Erzsebet had devoured over thousands of years, evidence and product of immeasurable slaughter too numerous to count.

The blood calamity swept through the allied forces’ battle lines.

—-

Even Caljarat, who had deflected all of Erzsebet’s bombardments to protect his subordinates, had no perfect way to block the crimson torrent that covered and swept through the entire battlefield.

While anyone with skill could cut a shell with a sword, how could one block a flood or tsunami covering the entire space?

Even if he slashed and tore it to pieces relentlessly, it would flow over from every space except the trajectory of his blade, sweeping everything away.

It was an attack that couldn’t be blocked with cold weapons. Not because of its power, but because of its enormous range derived from its scale.

“KRAAAAP!”

Therefore, Caljarat abandoned trying to counter from the ground as before, and leaped into the air, charging toward the spire where Erzsebet stood, swinging his greatsword.

– KWARRRRUNG―!

A purple slash roaring like thunder. As the beam of severance that tore through space touched the blood tidal wave surrounding the castle like a pillar―

– PACHIJIJIK!

Enveloped in fierce steam, its form distorted as if fluctuating, then flickered dimly like a lamp running out of oil before disappearing.

“What…!”

【 How weak. I might call it a gentle breeze. 】

Beyond the blood barrier that showed no trace of being cut despite receiving the slash of severance, Erzsebet looked down at him from atop the spire, mocking and ridiculing him.

“I see, you neutralized it with pure output difference…!”

Though Caljarat let out a startled groan, like the veteran warrior he was, he immediately understood why his slash had been blocked.

It wasn’t some extraordinary magic or power—like spatial fusion, distortion, or fixation—that had countered his spatial cut.

She had simply replenished the blood fast enough to fill the gap as it was being cut through space, enduring until the power in Caljarat’s slash was completely depleted. Continuously. Wasting enormous power like water.

Yes, the reason Caljarat’s slash was blocked was simply because there was a difference of orders of magnitude in the scale of power each side devoted to offense and defense.

【 You don’t live up to your reputation. How you managed to rampage with such skill is beyond me. Perhaps you only targeted bugs you were certain you could defeat? 】

“…Ha, let’s see how long that momentum can last!”

But far from being discouraged, Caljarat instead ignited his fighting spirit and continued to unleash slashes of severance, endlessly cutting and striking the pillars of blood.

Though every slash was blocked as if it were expected, he laughed heartily.

“Keep wasting your power! Squander it! Until you hit bottom!”

Spatial cutting consumed massive energy with each use, making it an inefficient technique, but if the opponent wasted several times that power to block it, it was still profitable even when blocked.

If Erzsebet continued to waste power like this, even if her power was several times his own, eventually that gap would be reversed.

【 What foolish, worthless, pitiful hope. 】

But from Erzsebet’s perspective, this was nothing more than futile struggling that was laughable and pathetic.

Though Caljarat had no way of knowing due to various machinations, the total amount of power Erzsebet currently possessed was about twenty times his own.

Even if she continued to waste power more extravagantly than now, there was zero possibility of her power being depleted before Caljarat died.

【 If that’s all you have to rely on, there’s no value in watching any longer. Let’s end this. 】

Therefore, Erzsebet decided to push Caljarat more aggressively without conserving her power.

Destroying Caljarat was only a matter of time, but on three sides of the castle, the heterogeneous army that had advanced while enduring fierce attacks was about to clash with her kin.

From Erzsebet’s perspective, wanting to avoid weakening the forces she had just restored, it was a more comfortable choice to quickly deal with Caljarat and personally annihilate his army, even if it meant some waste.

【 Perish along with that sordid hope. I pray you’ll be born wiser in your next life. 】

The falling raindrops stopped in mid-air, forming blood-colored magic circles, from the center of which all sorts of monsters emerged and launched fierce attacks at Caljarat.

“KIEEEEEK!”

“KYAAAK!”

Monsters resembling mixtures of birds and bats. Wolves with wings instead of forelegs. Various tribal warriors and monsters that looked like malevolent mixtures of all kinds of creatures.

Numerous monsters charged like beams of light while emitting sharp cries, swinging spears, swords, or claws, and sometimes grabbing Caljarat’s body as if embracing him before self-destructing.

– KWAAAANG!

“Kugh…!”

An explosion powerful enough to leave clear scars on the demigod orc’s sturdy body. Caljarat grimaced and groaned lowly as his skin was torn and muscles gouged.

And that wasn’t all.

– HWUUUNG!

From within the blood pillars, as many as ten giant claws extended, swinging their nails as if to reduce the space for Caljarat to dodge, while above, something like the upper body of a great dragon emerged and roared.

Red currents writhed inside its wide-open mouth, ready to spew breath at a moment’s command.

“You perform quite strange tricks with that blood mass. What are these miscellaneous creatures!”

Except for the fact that they were all made of blood instead of flesh and bone, it was a sight that looked like various heterogeneous races gathered in one place for a tribal council.

【 Sanguinem meum. They are my blood and the remnants left by those I have devoured. 】

“I see, so these are leftovers from your meals?”

The identity of those monsters was the remnants and lingering thoughts left in the blood of prey who had died after being drained by Erzsebet.

She had gifted them temporary bodies made of her blood, using them as bioweapons that absolutely obeyed her commands without self-awareness.

“But how many must you have killed to amass such a scale… tens of thousands? Hundreds of thousands? Surely not over a million?”

【 Well. Do you count the number of meat you’ve eaten while living? 】

The number of prey accumulated over thousands of years was enough to form not just a legion but a nation.

This vast crimson pillar rising like a tsunami to cover the castle was the totality of the lives she had devoured and the essence of the divinity she had obtained.

“Ha. So you’ve been eating like a pig for thousands of years. You’ve eaten quite a lot. Your true form must be quite plump!”

【 Well, I may have enjoyed the banquet a bit excessively. 】

Erzsebet calmly brushed off Caljarat’s provocation with a sneer.

As if the provocation of a weakling doomed to defeat after struggling was nothing more than seasoning to enhance the flavor of her food.

【 Some of your kind are probably mixed in there too, so if you wish, I could arrange a reunion with them? Ah, no need to decline. Perhaps your parents or siblings might be mixed in there. 】

“Ha…! You, blood-sucking fishy bitch…!”

【 Of course, no thanks are necessary either. Bestowing charity upon homeless refugees or orphans who have lost their parents is a virtue that an empress should rightfully practice. 】

When it came to mocking enemies, Caljarat was a mere novice who couldn’t even touch the hem of her garment.

Caljarat’s taunts were so trivial to her that they were nothing but clumsy provocations that only made her laugh.