Ch.260260. Manticore Subjugation (2)

Same time, at the Barbarian Goblin village.

“Keek, keeek!!”

“Keeeeek!!”

The goblins living in this village were engaged in making ropes by weaving vines together while chatting about various matters.

They were discussing how their wandering tribe had met a manticore and become its servants in exchange for protection, which they considered a good arrangement.

For goblins, the weakest creatures in the forest ecosystem, having a few of their kind occasionally taken as snacks in exchange for protection was far better than having the entire tribe wiped out by a single bear.

“Keeeek?”

“Kaek! Kkaek!”

Though their unique vocal structure and the limitations of the goblin language made them sound aggressive, the actual content of their conversation was simply about how “this life is good.”

Without the manticore’s protection, goblins couldn’t have lived in such plains, nor would they have dared to light fires to cook meat.

Anyway. While they were facing each other, exchanging meaningless chatter to pass the time.

“Y-you all! A-an attack is coming! Prepare for battle!!”

Hearing their chieftain and shaman suddenly shouting as he ran frantically, the goblins were startled but quickly grabbed their weapons that had been set aside nearby.

They picked up makeshift spears with sharp objects attached to the ends, along with carefully crafted spears, bows, and arrows, hastily tying them to their waistbands.

Though weak, these experienced hunters finished arming themselves and climbed onto their crude wooden palisades—

“””…kke, kaek?”””

What entered the goblins’ sight were undead—human corpses approaching from all directions, numbering at least several hundred.

Though the goblins didn’t know exactly what they were, the undead currently swarming toward their village were Vampire Zombies.

They were 9th-rank creatures like regular Zombies, with the only difference being their distinctly red hue and pale skin, as if they were palette-swapped versions.

These were minions either naturally reanimated after dying from a vampire’s blood-drinking or summoned by a higher vampire’s magic.

With Vampire Ghouls (8th-rank) as their superior counterparts—faster and able to use weapons—these zombies were slow and limited to club-swinging attacks due to their low intelligence…

But conversely, despite being 9th-rank undead, their physical abilities except for agility were on par with 8th-rank undead.

The most notable characteristic of zombie-type undead was their toughness and surprising strength, which posed significant pressure on creatures like goblins who were agile but lacked firepower and finishing ability.

“Keek, kik (Now, shoot)!!”

Fwooshshshshsh—!!!

The arrows shot from the goblins’ crude bows were hitting their targets quite accurately, but

they had little effect on the vampire zombies, which were merely walking corpses.

Thwack—thud!

As they discovered that aiming for the brain by shooting arrows through the eyes could somewhat effectively take them down,

the number of corpses falling to goblin arrows increased, but…

Given the sheer number of zombies, they simply couldn’t defeat them all.

“Move—move aside! Step back—get lost!!”

And at that moment, the goblin shaman-necromancer—the only one among them who could speak the magical “common tongue”—appeared, raising his staff decorated with a wolf’s skull and pointing it at the approaching zombies.

“《Summon Lesser Demon》!!”

Using one of the blankly staring goblins as a sacrifice by grabbing its head, he summoned a Lesser Demon from among the Satanic demons he had contracted with.

“Kigik!! Kihihihihi—!!!”

“The material plane! We’re out!”

“Let’s fight! Kill! Destroy!!!”

The summoned beings were small red-skinned demons resembling bats. These constantly chattering, flying creatures were Flame Imps, superior specimens among imps.

These embodiments of innocent evil flew around chaotically at first, but after catching the summoner’s gaze, they began attacking the zombies with sheepish glances.

“Die, die!”

“Burn!!”

Fwoosh—!

Their attack method was shooting small sulfur-smelling fireballs that, despite their limited blast radius, were powerful enough to instantly kill zombies with each hit.

With four Flame Imps in total, the situation was gradually improving, and the goblin necromancer smiled grimly—

“—Take this!!”

KWAAANG—!!!

The next moment, a knight riding a zombie hippogriff charged from the distance, swinging a halberd toward the goblin necromancer.

—CRUNCH!!

Without even time to react, the necromancer was decapitated by the halberd and fell to the ground.

The massive halberd, which tore through rather than cleanly cut, completely destroyed the necromancer and furthermore shattered a section of the flimsy palisade, making a spectacular entrance.

“《Sight of Horror》!! Hahaha—!!!”

As she cast an area-of-effect fear spell, the knight—Vampire Isabel—cut down dozens of goblins in one sweep.

The already confused goblins fell into panic and began scattering in all directions.

Keeeek!!

Kee, kkieee!!

Kiyoeek—!!!

“Where do you think you’re going?!! Ugly creatures, taste my halberd!”

Seeing them screaming and scattering everywhere, Isabel deliberately encouraged it and continued rampaging until…

“…?!!”

Suddenly feeling something strange, she turned around to see the mangled goblin necromancer’s corpse being consumed by something tar-like and sticky.

With black aura—the evil magical power unique to necromancers—beginning to seep out, it was obvious to anyone that this was a sign of a demon attempting to manifest.

“《Bloody Thorn Spear》!!”

Not willing to preach about chivalry in such a critical situation, she instinctively threw a massive blood spear created with vampire skills.

—THWACK!!

This spear, resembling a stake or thorn, pierced through the necromancer’s corpse.

Whether this served as a catalyst or not, the necromancer’s corpse stopped writhing and…

BOOM—!!!

With a sound like a giant balloon bursting, a terrible monster that seemed like a mixture of goblin and demon emerged from the exploded necromancer’s corpse.

A grotesquely swollen arm, tentacles writhing all over its body, exposed muscles as if the skin had been peeled off, eyes growing all over, and a mouth full of sharp teeth. Plus demonic features: wings, horns, and a tail.

Immediately recognizing that something had gone wrong during the summoning process using the follower’s corpse, Isabel called for Peter and was about to slice the demon in one stroke—

“W-what is… What’s happening?!!”

A voice resembling a human’s but even more hideous and terrible rang out as an adult manticore appeared above the goblin tribe.

“—Come quickly, boy!!”

As Isabel urgently called out while pulling back her zombie hippogriff, Peter suddenly appeared, his invisibility dispelled as he attempted an attack while hanging from a giant undead bat in mid-air.

—SLASH!!

“GYAAAAAAAH—!!!”

With Peter’s surprise attack from the side slicing off one of the manticore’s wings, the creature lost its ability to fly and began plummeting from the sky.

“《Eldritch Smite》—!!!”

At that moment, Isabel left the demon-goblin to Layla and rushed at the manticore, successfully cutting off its tail containing deadly poison with her halberd.

And Peter moved to finish it.

KWAAANG—!!!!

As the wingless and tailless manticore crashed to the ground with a loud noise, Peter leaped down and delivered a strike that pierced straight through the manticore’s neck.

—THWACK! SLASH!!

The dwarven steel sword, infused with aura, penetrated the spine and went through the neck. To ensure the kill, Peter pulled out his sword and immediately severed the brain.

But right then.

Fwooshshshsh—!!!

As if in a final death throe, dozens of spines suddenly shot out from the dying manticore’s back.

There was no time to surround himself with aura for defense, so he had to expect at least a few spines to pierce his body. Being hit by spines coated with lethal neurotoxin would almost certainly result in death before he could even attempt to detoxify with aura.

Therefore, Peter should have been turned into a pincushion by the spines bursting out at close range…but?

Clang!!

Just as the attack was about to reach him, a dark red aura rose over his skin and blocked the spines.

Peter instinctively realized this was the work of the demonic sword hidden within him, and he couldn’t help but be confused.