Ch.498Decapitation

# Guide Direyd.

Despite his lowly appearance and filthy fighting style, his combat ability was quite strong, befitting the leader of a cult.

His attack power itself was lower than Rurik’s, but his defense was much higher, and the variety of attack methods using his demonic body made him equally troublesome.

Seeing even these lowlifes starting to surpass the realm of masters, the world was clearly changing rapidly. Though a proper upheaval hadn’t occurred yet.

Thinking of Valenstein who couldn’t wait those few months and started a rebellion, I lowered my head to avoid the greatsword and used Frosting to overturn the ground, blocking the poison that spewed from his lower abdomen.

*Splash!*

The dark green liquid was blocked by marble and scattered in all directions.

I thought it would be acidic since it was green, but when I threw a cultist to block it, I found it wasn’t acid but poison. An unpleasant bodily fluid mixing paralytic poison with aphrodisiacs. The demon that formed its base must have been a species that used humans for reproduction.

The smell of the poison was utterly disgusting, so I had been fighting with my nose and mouth covered by the purification device Asha had made for me.

“You dodge well. But how long do you think you can keep running!”

“Who knows? Until you grow old and die?”

The massive figure charges toward me. His elongated left arm tears up the ground like a curved sword drawn from its scabbard.

Though his third arm had been torn off, unlike earlier when only claws had grown, now blades protruded from various parts of his left forearm.

I ducked to avoid the claws, cut through the following blades with Frosting, and blocked the greatsword in his right hand by swinging Durandal.

*BOOM!*

The marble beneath my feet cracked in concentric circles, spewing fragments. The sound of sword meeting sword had already transformed into an explosion. A clash between superhuman and monster. Both had long surpassed human limits.

Of course, unlike Direyd who had transplanted demon parts like rags, I was purely human.

“The more I look at you, the more I desire you. A body with human form yet transcending human limits! I shall devour your body and advance one step further!”

“Your dreams are too big!”

I swung Durandal widely to deflect the greatsword, then threw a dagger from my chest to cut off the approaching tentacle.

Pink blood gushed out. Since it wasn’t true silver but black iron, it would regenerate soon, but I could just cut it again when it grew back.

“Graaaah!”

Temporarily castrated, Direyd screamed and attacked more violently.

The greatsword swung like a storm, carving through the walls and floor of the prayer room like paper. Repeated collisions. The excess force struck everywhere, turning the Church of Saulite’s prayer room into ruins.

“Haaaaaaah!”

“Kyaaaah!”

Direyd’s left arm tore through Rurik’s leather, and in retaliation, Durandal’s blade carved a long gash in his scales.

His defense was as tough as dragon scales, blocking even true silver sword strikes. I blocked and deflected the barrage of greatsword attacks while looking for an opportunity to break through.

I could easily handle this by manifesting the power of Defying Fate throughout my body like last time, but since Valkers and Eljur had likely grown as strong as this guy, I needed to conserve energy-intensive techniques.

Ceylon and Lacy were probably fighting conservatively for the same reason. If we kept using powers like Judgment Day or Holy Fire, we’d be depleted by the time the final enemy appeared.

So it was more efficient to conserve strength and look for openings to strike. Or… create openings myself.

Like this.

“…Eternal Ascension, was it? The more I look at you, the more pitiful you seem. So pathetic it’s almost moving.”

I stared at Direyd with a gaze of sympathy, as if looking at a puppy trembling in the rain. His brow immediately contorted.

“Pitiful…? What nonsense are you…”

Hmm, good reaction. Let’s shake him up more.

“I mean, look at you. That inferiority-complex gaze, the way you talk. You’re clearly weaklings without talent who envied others’ power and forcibly imitated it.”

I kept talking while swinging my sword. The mouth invites disaster and the tongue is a knife that cuts the body—in a way, this too could be considered dual-wielding.

“No matter how envious you are, what’s the point of desperately copying others while becoming such a ridiculous monstrosity? Futile efforts only reveal the limits of incompetent bastards. You’ve worked hard for nothing.”

“Shut your mouth!”

His greatsword swings became more violent. Attacks driven by pure force without technique. His composure was crumbling.

[Fighting with your mouth again? At this point, you might as well have two secret techniques.]

‘What does it matter? It works well.’

Religious fanatics typically go berserk when their doctrines are mocked. Cultists even more so.

I deflected the falling greatsword with Durandal, twisted my body to avoid the following left arm, then raised my left hand to point at my chest area and smiled mockingly.

“See? You can’t even surpass a nineteen-year-old girl. How pathetic. Ascension? What big dreams. Putting wings on a worm doesn’t make it a dragon.”

“You dare mock the path of ascension!”

Direyd’s greatsword grew about one and a half times longer and much thicker.

He gripped the greatsword with his left arm to support his right as he brought it down. The air split with a scream in the wake of the sword’s momentum.

A true hero’s strike and the opening I’d been waiting for.

“Idiot.”

I smiled fiercely and leaped in a low posture, like a wolf biting the neck of its prey.

*WHOOSH!*

His greatsword passed over my head with a roaring sound.

I approached his lower body. The regenerated tentacle stretched toward my face. Its wet, glistening tip was familiar but definitely unwelcome.

With the purification device covering my nose and mouth, that monstrosity wouldn’t enter my mouth, but I worried even touching it might rot my skin.

“If you want to ascend so badly…!”

I fixed Durandal’s blade between his neck and shoulder, then placed both hands on the ground to swing my body sideways. My view shifted from the ground to the ceiling as I rotated.

The true silver blade drew an arc. The misdirected tentacle touched Durandal’s blade and was sliced like tofu.

“Gweeeeek!”

From the beast’s muzzle, which resembled a goat’s head—his last remaining attack method—aphrodisiac-laced poison shot out. I jumped like a frog, pushing off with both legs and my left hand, avoiding it.

The green bodily fluid sprayed too late, scattering hopelessly on the shattered ground.

“I’ll help you ascend!”

In an instant, I approached and leaped. Looking down, I could clearly see the top of his head.

“Go ahead and try! If you can pierce the scales of a lesser dragon!”

Direyd’s head was covered with dark scales. The same material that covered his entire body. His confidence in blocking Durandal’s strike was evident.

Yes, he had reason to be confident. After all, his scales had been blocking Durandal’s strikes.

Instead of answering, I took a deep breath, gathering all my strength into my arms.

No matter how tough, it was still a demon’s flesh. It didn’t have the blessing of invulnerability. It wasn’t that I couldn’t break it—I just lacked enough power.

So I could pierce it.

There was no way I couldn’t.

I spun Durandal and gripped it in reverse, placing my left hand on the hilt’s decoration. The power of achievement burned. My arm muscles bulged like steel, and Frosting emitted a creaking groan.

The scale-covered head appeared before me. I poured all my pulsating strength into the sword tip and thrust Durandal down with all my might.

–

All the cathedral windows shattered.

—-

“Kuh, graaack…!”

Direyd groaned bizarrely and staggered. The collision shook the air with its aftershock. My left arm tingled as if electrocuted.

“See? You can do it.”

Standing on his shoulders, I exhaled and smiled.

Direyd didn’t answer. Or rather, he couldn’t. His head must have been spinning. Durandal’s tip, slightly off from the crown, had pierced his scales and penetrated.

It was only about 2cm deep, but it had penetrated nonetheless.

…These scales are ridiculously tough. If a lesser dragon is this hard, I wonder how tough a true dragon’s scales would be.

I released Durandal’s hilt and raised my firmly clenched left hand with my right hand on top.

*BOOM!*

My fist came down like a hammer on Durandal’s pommel. Once, then again. Endlessly, like a drilling machine’s stake piercing the ground.

Durandal, embedded in Direyd’s head, tore through his skull and emerged through his jaw.

“Guk, geeereeeek…!”

With his brain carved out by the blade, Direyd groaned weakly and fell to his knees. Foamy saliva dripped from his gaping muzzle.

“Gieeeeek…”

His eyeballs rolled in all directions, scanning the battlefield. His left arm, which had been limp, convulsed and writhed frantically.

An instinctive reaction rather than rational judgment. His body seemed to be searching for a victim to replace his damaged brain. Most were already turned to mincemeat by Ceylon, Leonore, and Nigel.

Still, about twenty remained alive. Two executive-level cultists remained too. If he captured them and recovered, the wounds I’d inflicted would heal.

I couldn’t allow that.

Leaving Durandal embedded in his head, I came down to the floor and firmly grasped his left arm.

Perhaps because part of his brain had been sliced away, only the arm I held flopped like a fish on a cutting board; his resistance was extremely weak.

“Now, time to ascend!”

I planted both feet firmly on the ground and swung my waist and arms like hitting a baseball, throwing his body into the air.

Direyd flew toward the ceiling, defying gravity.

Monster-like as his body was, his height was just over two meters. Not made entirely of steel, his weight was only a few hundred kilograms. That meant I could throw him.

His left arm, which had been searching for sacrificial victims, frantically waved in the empty air.

Stretchy as his arm was, it had limits. Already, his arm had risen too high to grab anything.

And so, Direyd’s body reached the ceiling of the prayer room.

*BOOM!*

The marble roof instantly burst, and fragments rained down like a shower. Having broken through the ceiling, Direyd continued relentlessly upward. For a very brief moment, he had finally achieved ascension!

Before Direyd got too far away, I pulled my feet from the ground and leaped toward the sky, shattering the ground.

My body soared. After multiple leaps through the fragments, the distance between us rapidly closed—close enough to clearly read the inscription on Durandal stuck in his head.

“Grua, this, this way…”

Having somehow regained his senses, Direyd flailed his arms trying to strike me. It was just the futile flailing of a wingless creature.

*WHOOSH!*

The greatsword missed completely, and only his left arm stretched toward me. Instead of blocking or deflecting his arm, I concentrated the power of Karma in my left arm and extended Frosting.

Defying Fate.

My left hand, shot forward with compressed time, grasped the blade on his forearm before his arm could reach me.

I pulled my left arm sharply, mounted his forearm, and rushed toward his head. I needed Durandal to completely finish him off.

As I grabbed the hilt and pulled Durandal out, Direyd’s eyeballs convulsed again, as if his brain had been scraped by the blade.

“Gierreeeeek!”

“Ha, what a groan. Ascension is over, now it’s time for hell.”

I placed Durandal against his neck and pressed Frosting against the opposite edge of the blade. Like pressing down on the back of a kitchen knife to cut through meat and bone.

“I’ll guide you there!”

With my weight added to his upper body, his head tilted diagonally toward the ground.

And the fall began.

My hair and clothes fluttered in the wind rushing upward, and the howling sound filled my ears.

Direyd tried to attack me by swinging his arms, but my legs were pressing down on his arms, making it impossible.

“Graaaa…! Aishan-Gioro…!”

With both arms blocked, Direyd desperately extended tentacles to wrap around my body and pull me off, but perhaps due to the brain damage, they were merely disgusting without any real power.

Honestly, it was truly disgusting.

“Stop struggling and die quietly-!”

My roar echoed. The ground was already close. Like a comet falling toward earth, with a beast-like scream, the cathedral floor welcomed us.

*BOOM!*

Direyd’s neck split like firewood.