Ch.167Chapter 167. Ancient Serpent (8)

Chapter 167. The Ancient Serpent (8)

Going back a bit in time, before the Seven-Headed Dragon and the demons left the capital.

A monster was hiding in the Skull Mountains, watching the capital. This abomination, seemingly pieced together from various demon bodies, was Charon—once a necromancer who nearly brought a zombie apocalypse to this world.

He had faced ruin when attacked by the cloud demon through Malak’s plot, losing both his body and army. Yet through a series of coincidences and inevitabilities, he managed to rise again.

No, it was more than just recovery. He had gained power far beyond what he once possessed. A red divine aura enveloped Charon’s body.

This was no ordinary divine power. It was a new divinity formed from the energies of multiple gods. A power that should never have existed, born through the abilities Charon had learned from transcendent beings of the outer world.

Charon’s soul, no longer a single entity due to the mixing of various souls, played a part in this as well. A truly horrific hybrid.

Though unstable and violent, its power was terrifying.

Charon felt his efforts to find totems to absorb even small divinities had been worthwhile.

‘I’ve been moving in secret.’

It had been difficult with such a massive body, but he deliberately traveled only through places without human traces. All to avoid being noticed by Malak’s forces.

More precisely, to prevent the one who relayed information to Malak in this area from discovering that he was still alive.

‘Sans, Malak’s dog.’

Charon had suffered greatly at the hands of that paladin. After being burned once, he had stopped accessing the community—until he was attacked by the cloud demon.

That had been a mistake. The community was an ocean of information.

When he reconnected to the community, it was filled with facts unknown even to Charon. Things like the evil god Shamishur.

It was while he was searching through the community again using the souls of the possessed he had “collected” today.

Wooooo-!

A thunderous sound came from the direction of the capital. Then a monster with seven heads took flight. Other demons followed behind it.

‘The Seven-Headed Dragon demon.’

That’s what the possessed called this being. It was an extremely powerful entity. Charon sensed strength equal to Malak’s when he had regained control of his soul.

Screech!

Eventually the city gates opened, and demons rushed out. They were clearly going to attack Malak’s forces.

“So it begins.”

Charon had been hiding quietly, slowly building his power while waiting for this moment. For the end of mythology, the twilight of the gods.

Now it was time to take the first step.

Crack!

Bat wings tore through Charon’s back. The divine aura that had been gently enveloping his body began to surge, emitting a terrifying energy.

“Shamishur.”

The name of the culprit who summoned demons to the mortal realm.

Whoosh!

With one flap of his wings, Charon soared high into the sky and looked down at the capital.

Kieee…

Crunch…!

Zombie demons that had been hiding began to reveal themselves one by one.

“It’s time to pay the price.”

The time had come to test his newly acquired power.

***

I pulled my horn from the Seven-Headed Dragon demon’s abdomen and tried to create distance.

Or rather, I was about to.

Six pairs of heads simultaneously bit down on my neck. Though they didn’t seem to have much biting strength as it didn’t hurt, I lost a good opportunity because of it.

I tried to shake them off with my arms, but the distance was too short to make it possible. Damn it.

At times like this, having short arms is truly frustrating. The snake-like body had disproportionately weak limbs compared to its length.

There was no time for regrets. The creature was trying to stand on all fours. It limped, suggesting its leg bones had been shattered when we rolled earlier.

Good. This is good. It won’t be able to use its feet for at least a few minutes.

This is my chance. I need to give it everything. If I don’t kill it now, all my allies will be annihilated.

I summoned lightning through the clouds created by the “Malak’s Domain” blessing.

Lightning struck from the sky, mercilessly shaking the creature’s body. Naturally, as the caster, I suffered no damage.

-!

The Seven-Headed Dragon tightened its grip on my neck. It seemed to howl briefly, but I couldn’t hear it, which was unfortunate.

Right, one strike wouldn’t be enough. I used all my remaining charges.

Lightning struck the Seven-Headed Dragon’s body at intervals of a few seconds. Despite its resilience, the creature trembled but refused to release its teeth from my neck.

But I succeeded in weakening it. I turned my head left and right to shake off the numerous teeth. My scales scattered everywhere.

Ignoring that, I headbutted its body. The creature was pushed back again.

After creating a slight distance, I was about to inhale to unleash a freezing breath.

Its front paws grabbed my face and turned it sideways.

What? Had its bones already regenerated? Bones should be harder to regenerate than muscle.

I noticed that the creature’s hind legs were still bent in an unnatural direction. It had concentrated its regenerative power on its front legs first.

Only then did I see the look in its eyes. Though they seemed to be boiling with rage and excitement, deeper within lay fear.

Like any other living being, it was struggling in the face of death. It seemed to have no trump card left.

Ah.

I shouldn’t be like this, but my eyes keep trying to close. It’s not because True Malak is weaker than this creature. It’s because I’m lacking.

If only I were a human with stronger willpower.

I tried to shake off its front paws, but they were too thick and sturdy.

As I was using every last bit of my strength, no, my final reserves of willpower to hold on…

The giant god suddenly appeared beside me and grabbed the creature’s left front paw.

So the Seven-Headed Dragon had been frightened because it saw Harry approaching. I couldn’t hear, so I didn’t know.

Just as I thought we only needed to clear the right side, something whooshed by and cut off the creature’s right front paw before crashing.

Ah, it’s Lakye. She had flown up with divine power and cut off its paw. Having consumed divine power beyond her limits to cut through that thick limb, she fell powerlessly, tumbling on the ground.

I won’t waste this opportunity created by Lakye and Harry.

Facing the creature, I inhaled and unleashed my freezing breath. The Seven-Headed Dragon tried to dodge by thrashing its heads and rolling its body, but the giant god held it firmly in place.

Cold breath infused with divine power erupted from my mouth. The creature’s heads, touched by it, froze in shock and terror.

Seizing the opportunity, the giant god swung his fist.

The creature’s heads shattered into pieces upon contact with the iron fist. This was the end of the supreme god from another world.

This bastard, surely it can’t regenerate from this.

I wanted to confirm the kill by watching it turn to ash, but now that I believed we had won, the sheer willpower that had kept me going suddenly drained away.

I’ll leave the rest to the tribal alliance and the paladins. I released my manifestation and fell into a deep sleep.

***

Slash!

Dina cut off the head of the last high-ranking demon.

After Lakye delivered a strike to the Seven-Headed Dragon demon and collapsed, Harry riding the giant god took charge of handling the still-swarming demon army.

Dina, MeleeSpy, Hannah, and the special forces team joined forces to hunt down the high-ranking demons one by one. That arduous task had just ended.

Hah~ There were still mid-level demons remaining, but it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to call this a victory.

“Finally killed them all.”

Hannah sat down, completely drained. She wanted to lie down and sleep right there.

“We won! We won! Game clear! Woohoo!”

MeleeSpy shouted loudly. He was in tatters after almost single-handedly blocking attacks from multiple high-ranking demons.

Without MeleeSpy’s help, they wouldn’t have won. Hannah decided to let his showboating slide this time.

“The evil god must be using its strength to maintain the dimensional gate, so it’s probably weaker than we thought! It seems the Seven-Headed Dragon brought almost all the high-ranking demons! We’ve practically won! Maybe not a bloodless victory, but conquering the capital will be a piece of cake!”

MeleeSpy was speaking extremely fast in his excitement. Of course, no one had asked for his assessment.

“Paladin-yaaah-hooo! Paladin-yaaah-ha!”

MeleeSpy shouted in celebration once more and removed his helmet. A surprisingly clean face was revealed underneath.

Not exactly handsome, but he had quite a bold look.

“My scars have healed too… sweet! Now I can go around without a helmet!”

Naturally, this was due to the “Healing Totem” blessing. Its effect was so powerful that given enough time, it could heal even deep wounds from long ago.

“Why are you all so down? Huh? What’s the problem?”

MeleeSpy looked at the other special forces members who had collapsed and at Dina, who was staring into space with a serious expression.

“…Check the community.”

Dina said without even glancing at MeleeSpy.

“What? Suddenly?”

MeleeSpy scratched his head and accessed the community, then…

“Paladiiiiin!”

He screamed and threw away his shield. Hannah, who had been looking at him like he was an idiot, also accessed the community out of curiosity, and immediately cursed.

[OneSlice: My name is Charon, the one you call the Necromancer Lord. Possessed ones, I have taken the capital.]

“Holy shit.”

The battle was not over yet.

The final enemy stood blocking their destination.