Ch.1260One Strike, Double Damage

The regeneration of werebeasts originally repairs damaged areas starting from the head.

Like Rurik, who cut off his own head and threw it away to shake off the flames of karma, regenerating his body from beneath that head as he fought.

But what if the head itself is completely shattered? With the point of regeneration gone, would they fail to regenerate and simply perish?

Ordinary werebeasts would. No, they would die even if their heads were merely severed rather than shattered.

Only werebeasts who had surpassed the wall of Champion and reached a level worthy of being called kings could regenerate after having their heads cut off.

Even then, not all kings could do this—only those with exceptionally strong regenerative abilities from birth, or those who had accumulated enormous power approaching their racial limits, could perform such a feat.

However, restoring a completely destroyed head was a gamble too risky even for them to attempt.

Throughout the long history of werebeasts, fewer than five kings had survived having their heads completely shattered.

Even those few were reluctant to attempt it, saying it was something that could result in death at any moment.

But all of that was ultimately the story of those who couldn’t transcend the limitations of their species.

Those who obtained and awakened divinity could reach new horizons beyond their innate limitations, and the regenerative power of werebeasts was no exception.

The regenerative ability of a werebeast who had reached the realm of demigod was so powerful that even if their entire body was reduced to dust, they could resurrect from that dust as long as they had life force remaining.

For them—or more precisely, for Caliburn, the only remaining demigod among werebeasts—regenerating a head wasn’t particularly difficult.

If the head, the point of regeneration, was destroyed, they could simply use the largest remaining body part as a new starting point for regeneration.

Geirod, being a giant who had lived for ages, was well aware of this fact.

Caliburn’s regenerative power was beyond common sense, and even if he lost more than 90% of his body including his head in an instant, he could perfectly regenerate within seconds.

However, because Caliburn’s charge toward Hrungnir was not just fierce but desperate, Geirod was deceived by that momentum and misjudged Caliburn’s true intentions for a moment.

The price of that misjudgment was fatal.

“Grr, grrrrrk…!”

The beast’s teeth digging in, crushing his cervical vertebrae. Numbing limbs. Blocked breath. Blood surging up through his esophagus.

And even flames that clung to his armor and clothes, burning his body.

It was a severe injury, irreversible for the giant king who, though still powerful, had clearly weakened compared to his prime.

“Kh, grrrgh…!”

“It’s too late! Do you think you can escape!”

Geirod reached out to grab Caliburn’s muzzle and tear it apart, but this was merely a futile struggle that came too late.

Caliburn embraced Geirod with all four limbs, restraining his arms, and despite flesh and muscle tearing from the difference in strength, he gritted his teeth and endured, driving his fangs deeper.

“Grooooo—!”

“I told you it was useless!”

Even as Geirod threw himself backward to crush him, shattering and bursting Caliburn’s entire body.

“Gruaaah—! Let go, you beast—!”

“Kyahak, kruk, khueu…! I told you—it’s already too late!”

If he couldn’t shake him off, he would die.

If he couldn’t cut off his breath now, he would lose.

Both were in such desperate states that they writhed and tore up everything around them with screams that were closer to wails than battle cries.

“No! Your Majesty…!”

The giants who witnessed this catastrophic scene tried to rush toward Geirod in shock and dismay, but the werebeasts had seen it too.

“Ha, where do you think you’re going without us!”

“Get out of the waaaay—!”

Due to the fierce attacks of werebeasts clinging to their legs and swinging spears, swords, and claws, the giants’ steps were endlessly delayed, unable to reach their king.

– Kwaddeuk!

Caliburn’s upper and lower jaws, having crushed Geirod’s neck bones and severed his blood vessels and nerves, finally met and locked together without any gap.

– Kuung…!

The torn-off head of the king rolled across the blood-soaked ruins.

—-

The death of Giant King Geirod, who had ruled the largest tribe since giants declined under the gods’ curse.

It wasn’t simply the death of one demigod-level warrior, but an obituary foretelling the death of all giants who had gone to war.

With the fierce battle between demigod-level powers ending in the enemy’s victory, the remaining forces would have to stop him… but how could that be possible?

“Kh, hueu…. Fighting to the bitter end…!”

Caliburn, who had severed Geirod’s neck and crawled out from under his corpse, had also expended much power in battle and regeneration, but even so, a demigod was still a demigod.

The giants, who were already struggling just to resist the werebeast army, had no chance of facing Caliburn—even if he had been missing all his limbs, let alone merely tired.

“Groaaaa!! That, that dog-like bastard dares! DARES—!”

“Why lament so? We’ll meet again soon!”

Hrungnir, the only warrior who could match Caliburn, was too busy fending off Krakbabel’s fierce attacks to even dream of avenging Geirod.

“Krrrr…! It was a bit of work… but now, one left…!”

In fact, far from revenge, he needed to worry about his own life.

Krakbabel alone was a formidable opponent requiring his full strength, but now Caliburn would join the fight too.

That naturally meant his death.

‘Damn it all, what are those undead bastards doing—’

Just as Hrungnir, with teeth clenched in despair that even his volcanic rage couldn’t erase, glared resentfully at the Undead Duke’s floating fortress that was providing no help.

– Kwachaaang!

“Krrrrh… I’ve reached my limit, I’ll withdraw for now!”

With Balaur’s somewhat humiliated cry, all the dragon’s magic circles surrounding Fortress Agnita shattered at once.

And finally, the last sanctuary of the Church of Bellona fully transcended space and descended into the mortal world.

“Tsk, is it over already? Faster than I expected….”

Caliburn, approaching Hrungnir while regenerating his wounds at a noticeably slower pace than before, clicked his tongue in disappointment as he glanced at the descended fortress.

‘That Balaur, surely this isn’t his full power… perhaps he’s saving enough strength to escape if needed?’

The reason the grace period was shorter than expected was obvious. It was because Balaur was conserving his strength.

So that if things went wrong—they were already quite wrong, but anyway—if things got even worse and they faced annihilation, he could at least escape cleverly by himself.

It was a cunning move, but one difficult to openly criticize.

Having erased 30% of the enemy forces and blocked the fortress’s transfer until now, he could claim he had fulfilled his duty as an ally.

In other words, even if Balaur abandoned the battlefield now, it would be difficult for Caliburn to condemn it as betrayal.

Of course, if he died here at the hands of the undead, he wouldn’t even have the opportunity to criticize Balaur.

Caliburn did have a plan to break through this situation. It wasn’t an elaborate or ingenious strategy, but rather a gamble improvised to fit the circumstances.

‘But it shouldn’t be a problem. Bombardment is impossible in this situation anyway. If I deal with Hrungnir before their forces reach the ground and retreat at full speed…’

Having killed Geirod, once Hrungnir was gone, the remaining giants weren’t even worth being cautious about.

City-scale spatial transfer had been used once, so they couldn’t attempt it again for a while, and undead without transfer abilities were generally slow-footed.

So, he would eliminate Hrungnir as quickly as possible and retreat before being surrounded by the Agnita fortress forces.

Not everyone would be able to escape, so he would have to sacrifice many of his subordinates, but that was the best option for now. At least in Caliburn’s judgment.

– Guuuung—!

However, reality always mocks optimistic hopes.

The first thing Fortress Agnita did after stabilizing in space was to aim all the gun batteries installed on its lower section at the battlefield.

“Wait, those bastards, surely not…?!”

Just as Caliburn realized what this meant and exclaimed in shock.

– Kwaoooooo!

Thousands of jet-black light pillars poured down like a torrential rain toward the ground.

“Fall back! Fall back! If you touch that light…!”

Curse-light beams that combined vast mana with the death energy unique to the undead, destroying not the body but life itself, leading those touched to death through corruption.

These were mercilessly poured onto the center of the battlefield where werebeasts and giants were entangled in a sea of blood. Sweeping through all of them without distinguishing between enemy and ally.

“Garmeriiic—! Have you betrayed us, have you BETRAYED US?! GAARMERIIIC—!”

The hate-filled roar of a giant was buried under the sound of artillery fire.