Ch.496What’s With These Guys

“Hehe. The scent of females is so strong, it seems some wenches have gathered! Tonight will be… Wait, what the fuck is this?!”

“A human?! Is this thing human?!”

The cultist who had been walking in with a lecherous grin stepped back in shock upon seeing the human centipede.

Well, I suppose even for those who enjoy rape, murder, and human sacrifice, the sight of a dozen or so humans connected in a row with their limbs trembling would be shocking.

I took advantage of their hesitation to issue orders to my companions.

“Everyone retreat toward the carriage! Nigel and Leonore focus on attacking, Lacy and Agnes concentrate solely on defense!”

“Understood. Be careful, Lord Median!”

Five master-level warriors. Three high-level mages. And clearly, someone with power exceeding a master was approaching this place at high speed.

That one must be the leader of these cultists gathered here. Whether it’s Valkers or Eljur, or someone else entirely, I won’t know until I see their face.

Anyway, except for Ceylon and me, the rest would need to stay close together and cover each other while fighting. Even if their skills were hastily acquired through an evil god’s blessing, while their technique might be lacking, their raw power wouldn’t be much different.

“Ceylon, you have the Golden Barrier, right? Can you use it to push the women back?”

“Yes, I can. I’ll protect them and then join you!”

Ceylon nodded and moved quickly. Once the real fighting began, protecting them would become difficult. So we needed to move them somewhere out of reach before that happened.

“Good, hold on well!”

I turned my gaze from my companions back to the enemies and lowered my stance. My thighs, filled with power, hardened like steel, and Durandal in my grip turned its engraved seal golden.

A familiar smell tickled my nose. The scent of men and women mixed with night flowers, the acrid smell of burning mixed with the stench of blood and rot.

The smell of monsters.

– KWAAANG!

I launched myself toward them, shattering the marble floor beneath me. My vision stretched as an ugly face approached right before me.

Disgustingly ugly.

The ones who appeared to be officers were covering their faces with masks made from human skulls, and the skin visible through the gaps in the skull was warty and distorted like a toad with leprosy.

“Huk…!”

The cultist officer who met my eyes flinched in surprise but swung his axe. A master’s reaction speed. No, it was much faster than those who had just become masters.

Indeed, the smell I just caught wasn’t my imagination. The stench of monsters was strong.

“What are you?”

I swung Durandal diagonally with the momentum of my charge. The blade rose in a diagonal line and collided with the axe, creating a thunderous sound.

– KAAANG!

The black iron axe blade sparked and cracked, and the man’s right foot, which he had reflexively thrust forward, was caught by Frosting.

“Huh…?”

The man’s eyes widened in surprise, clearly not expecting to be perfectly blocked.

I firmly gripped his instep and asked again.

“I asked what you are. What kind of creatures are you to smell so strongly of monsters?”

For a moment, I recalled the insect knight that Isabella had created… but this was completely different.

While the insect knight was merely a parasitic monster wearing human skin, these guys before me seemed more like humans with some monster parts mixed in.

But they weren’t quite monsters either.

What is this? Did the Council of Dream Utopia or Invidia have creatures like these? I don’t remember them. Perhaps these were the other cultists they had allied with? What were they called… the Ascension Sect or something?

“You bitch…!”

While I was briefly pondering, the man whose leg I was holding raised his left arm above his shoulder. As if he was going to strike my cheek.

– KWADEUK!

The next moment, the leather gauntlet covering his left hand tore apart, and a crayfish-like pincer burst out.

“Let go!”

The man swung his left arm. A dark carapace with sharp pincers. Anyone could see it wasn’t a human arm.

“Answer me first!”

I yanked Durandal, which was embedded in the axe, and struck the pincer aiming for my head with the hilt of my sword.

A sound like a wooden board being crushed. The man’s left arm shattered into pieces and burst apart.

“GYAAAAK!”

Flesh packed inside the carapace splattered in all directions. Glistening black-stained chunks of meat. Clearly monster flesh.

[What is this one? Only one arm is monstrous? How bizarre.]

‘I know, right? Did they attach a monster’s arm or something?’

I kicked away the man who was screaming and bleeding black blood, then bent my back sharply backward to avoid tentacles flying at me from both sides.

Two thick tentacles whipped through the air, writhing like snakes. About the thickness of my wrist. Dull brown and somewhat glistening tentacles.

Did these guys also have monster body parts implanted?

The tentacle from the left one was wet and protruding from its mouth, so it seemed to be a tongue originally, and the tentacle from the right one…

“Where do you think you’re pointing that thing!”

With a surge of physiological disgust, I grimaced heavily and drew my dagger to cut off the right one’s tentacle.

“KUAAAK!”

The man whose tentacle was cut off wailed miserably, clutching between his legs as he collapsed. If the sensation was connected, it must be quite painful. He’d been half-castrated in an instant.

– CHULPUK!

The brown tentacle flopped down like a middle-aged man’s confidence. Bubbles began to form from the cut surface, and the severed end slowly rose and began to writhe.

[How disgusting.]

I know. It’s fucking gross.

– CHWARALAK!

I wanted to stomp and crush it, but I had to give up as the left one’s tongue flew at me again.

Though it was somewhat less disgusting than the right one’s, a tongue was still just as unpleasant.

I stepped back three or four paces to avoid the tongue that was flying like a whip. The missed tentacle struck the ground, leaving a deep scar in the marble floor.

—-

A moment of reconnaissance. I had no injuries but gained an indescribable sense of disgust, while they had two injured, though not seriously.

The man with the broken weapon and left arm got up staggering with a footprint deeply embedded in his belly, and the one with the tentacle in his mouth approached the other tentacle man as if to protect him.

The other five had launched themselves toward my companions rather than me from the moment the battle began.

No, “fighting” might not be the right word.

Two officers who targeted the carriage with their subordinates were engaged in combat with Nigel and Leonore while revealing their monster bodies, but the remaining three were being beaten like dogs by Ceylon.

“What utterly disgusting bodies! You excrement of whores who fornicated with monsters. Even hell won’t welcome you!”

As expected of Astraea’s paladin. No one can match his skill at slaying monsters. I could rest easy about that side.

I lightly exhaled and straightened my body, pointing Durandal at the crayfish-arm and tentacle men.

“Black hair and blue eyes…! Could it be…!”

“The Winter Slayer Haschal…! Then that paladin must be the Judge Ceylon!”

Only now realizing our identities, the three vermin before me burst out in shock.

Perhaps thanks to slaughtering all the fleeing soldiers, they hadn’t known who the attackers were even as they ran here.

Well, if they had known, they would have run in the opposite direction.

“So the rumor that the Well-Endowed Ceylon and the son of a whore are lovers is true…?!”

Well-endowed what?

I almost dropped Durandal.

The first words were so absurd that I didn’t even register the insult directed at me.

Well-Endowed Ceylon? Just hearing it makes me dizzy. I don’t know who came up with such a nickname, but they’re probably in the basement of an Astraea cathedral by now.

[What are those creatures babbling about?! Lovers? Did they say lovers? Between you and that unknown man?! What nonsense is this!]

Even Hersella, who had been quietly watching, began to have a fit at the word “lovers.” Inside my head.

Damn, I was planning to tell her about this later because I knew she’d react this way.

[Explain yourself! Come to think of it, that man is clearly Astraea’s paladin as you said! And your stigmata is also Astraea’s! Don’t tell me you sold your body to that man to obtain the stigmata?]

What are you saying? That doesn’t make any sense. If sleeping with a paladin gave you stigmata, all these guys would be wearing Saulite’s stigmata.

It seemed the word “lovers” was so shocking that Hersella’s intelligence had dropped to monkey level.

If I actually confirmed we were lovers, she’d probably devolve below goldfish level.

[How could you… how could you…! Even though you control my body as you please, I believed you wouldn’t do anything improper, but you betray my trust like this? I admit his skills and appearance are acceptable, but how dare you with such a man without my permission…!]

…So his skills and appearance are acceptable, huh? That was an unexpected assessment.

If this were a leisurely situation, I might have teased her with some jokes about it… but I’ll have to give that up.

I wasn’t in the mood for jokes, and her throwing a fit in my head during battle would break my concentration.

‘It’s nothing like that. We just travel together hunting heretics, so rumors like that spread. Remember what happened with Leopold? I’ll explain properly later, so please calm down for now.’

I placated Hersella with a reasonable explanation.

I wasn’t lying. I just omitted the fact that I was the one who started the rumor. If I had told her that, the conversation would have gone on endlessly.

[You must explain later…!]

‘Yes, yes. Besides, you have some explaining to do to me too, right? So let’s talk then.’

Come to think of it, I also had things to question Hersella about.

I needed to hear why she had hidden from me the fact that she could temporarily take control of my body and that she had realized the Tale of Heroes.

I wasn’t suspecting that she had concealed it to backstab me, but I still needed to understand exactly what was going on. I couldn’t know when she might pull something like that again.

[…..]

Finally, some peace and quiet. Hersella, who had been thrashing about, finally shut up. She must have agreed that this wasn’t the time for such a conversation.

I sharpened my scattered mind again and pointed Durandal at the three officers who were slowly backing away after realizing my identity.

While being wary of the owner of the intense presence that had approached right near them.

“WHO! DARES TO PERSECUTE MY DISCIPLES-!”

…What a thunderous voice. A roar that resonated like an angry tiger. A beast-like presence rushed in.

“Master!”

“The Guide has arrived!”

The faces of the three officers immediately brightened. For them to make such expressions with me right in front of them… does that mean they have that much faith in this “Guide”?

Let’s see if they can still make those expressions after I tear off their master’s limbs.

I gripped Durandal with both hands and spread the power of my achievement throughout my body. The acrid smell of dark mana intensified rapidly, and the next moment—

– KWAAANG!

The ground in front of the officers exploded, and a giant wrapped in black dark mana burst out like a geyser.

“KYAAAAAT!”

Immediately, I thrust Durandal toward his chest.

A strike launched with compressed time. The Defying Fate blade pierced through his heart without delay.

A black spray of blood burst forth.