Ch.514Battle with the Fragment

What followed was truly a march of hardship. It was also a demonstration of why masters who could kill a hundred knights with ease were treated as hundreds of times more valuable than ordinary knights.

The beams of dark mana multiplied steadily. Even with Lacy’s blessing, ordinary knights would have been reduced to dust long ago.

In battles against monsters of a different power scale, quality matters more than quantity. That’s the fundamental reason why those who have crossed the threshold of strength receive such respect.

With overwhelming numbers, victory might be possible, but it’s far more cost-effective to attempt subjugation with a small elite force than to accept enormous casualties.

The stray beam clawed across the earth, leaving talon marks, and dark mana seeped into the deeply carved ground, forming black rivers. Even if we miraculously achieved victory, restoring this city to its original state would be impossible.

It would likely be designated a restricted zone. Land contaminated by such dense dark mana that purification becomes impossible degenerates into a demonic realm uninhabitable by humans.

After the situation is contained, paladins and priests would strictly control civilian access and engage in endless hunting of the occasional monsters that emerge.

“KUOOOOO!”

Of course, now wasn’t the time to worry about future matters. If we couldn’t defeat that monster, forget restricted zones—the destruction of the Holy State would begin right here.

We desperately dodged and created barriers to block attacks while charging toward the evil god’s arm.

The distance would have been short if we could travel in a straight line, but dodging beams and jumping here and there consumed considerable time.

Ten minutes that felt like an hour. Finally, my feet reached the edge of the dark mana lake. The black pool, emitting a terribly acrid smell, rippled like waves.

And there, before the bottomless lake filled with darkness…

I finally realized a truly fatal problem that I had overlooked until I reached the monster’s vicinity.

…Is it actually safe to enter this?

—-

The black mana realm—whether swamp, lake, or puddle was ambiguous. Perhaps due to its pitch-black color, I couldn’t even guess what conditions might be like inside the pool.

If it were simply stagnant dark mana, it probably wouldn’t be too deep… but what if it was connected to a bottomless abyss like the black hole in the monster’s chest?

The moment I stepped in, I could be sucked into the darkness and meet my end.

【GRWAAAAAAH!】

There was no time to hesitate. The monster, noticing my approach, roared fiercely like a hungry bear and swung its pillar-like arm toward me.

Three arms. One pair swept across the surface at a low angle from both sides, while another slashed down from above.

Even a simple swing becomes a terrifying attack when size and speed are added. It had enough power to slaughter dozens of knights in formation with a single blow.

“Lord Haschal!”

Ceylon, arriving behind me, spread a holy barrier above my head while swinging his Thorn Sword toward the monster’s arm approaching from the left.

Only one arm remained. I charged toward it.

KWAAANG!

The first collision. The barrier, smashing against the giant fingers, shattered like glass within seconds, embedding fragments of light into the monster’s hand descending from above.

Its claws slightly missed their mark, only deeply gouging the innocent ground.

Simultaneously, another arm flying in from the left raised its claws like a shield to block Ceylon’s sword. Ceylon, hit by the immense force, flew like a deer struck by a truck, leaving only a gash on the monster’s claw.

“Kuk…!”

Ceylon tumbled across the ruins. I had no time to worry about his safety.

The right arm approaching me, perhaps sensing the threat of Durandal’s blade, stopped abruptly just beyond the reach of my sword, revealing a mouth on its palm.

The mouth, resembling human lips, opened wide as a snail-like tongue emerged and writhed.

Petal-shaped flesh layered at the tip of the tongue, and countless tentacles sprouted like sea anemones beneath the tongue as large as my torso. Sticky saliva dripped between the tentacles.

I hesitated momentarily at the disgustingly grotesque appearance, but quickly composed myself and charged another step toward the monster’s tongue, confident that nothing within reach of my sword could remain uncut.

Then the monster’s hand concealed its tongue inside its lips and took a deep breath.

Breathing…?

No, it was closer to feeding than breathing.

WHIOOOOOO!

A sound like a whirlwind rushing through a cave. The air pressure pushed against my back, propelling my body forward.

Not just my body. Like dust being sucked into a vacuum cleaner, all manner of debris scattered on the ground was being drawn into the monster’s mouth in a spiral!

This bastard was trying to swallow me whole…!

I lowered my posture sharply and thrust my left arm downward, piercing the ground like a stake.

KWAK!

My hair flipped back, streaming toward the monster. My left arm creaked and my teeth clenched involuntarily. Debris being sucked into the monster’s mouth pounded against my back, and Frosting, embedded in the ground, slowly slid forward as it gradually dug through the earth.

The suction was tremendous. Just resisting it made my teeth grind.

“Kuuuuu…!”

As I gripped the ground and held on, the long tongue extended like a whip from the monster’s mouth again. As if to strike me or wrap around and suck me in. It moved with the speed of a burning beast.

“How dare you!”

Durandal, swung with only my right arm while half-prostrate, made contact with the tip of the monster’s tongue.

Not a cutting strike with the edge, but a blow with the flat of the blade. The snail-like flesh burst and smashed, the recoil shoving my body sideways.

I rolled across the ground, quickly stood up, and glared at the monster’s arm as it howled in pain.

“Don’t look directly at its palm! You’ll be drawn in!”

A warning to my allies. Unless firmly planted on the ground, anyone caught in the wrong position would be instantly sucked in and reduced to a meal.

【GRAAAAAAAH!】

Apparently greatly displeased at having its tongue tip taken by what it considered a mere fly, the monster violently shook its body and roared loud enough to split the sky.

The dark mana lake surged like waves. The sound pressure alone was enough to push my body back slightly.

【Grrrr….】

After one roar, the evil god’s arm lowered its long neck to the front of its body and stared at me with the two heads attached to its end.

That’s when the real battle began.

—-

Though it was just a small scratch compared to its 18-meter body, perhaps because it had been wounded by those it had considered mere moths rushing in ignorantly…

The monster seemed to recognize us not as simple insects but as enemies to be wary of, and began to attack with genuine killing intent.

Eight arms thundered and swept in all directions, destroying everything, while the hands at their ends sucked in all debris and twisted the air in every direction.

A whirlwind mixed with boulders swirled like a blizzard through the air.

When we tried to distance ourselves from the hands, black beams shot from the monster’s eyes as soon as we moved too far, creating deep cracks in the earth.

This monster was truly close to a living natural disaster. Even I could barely dodge, counterattack, and inflict wounds, while Ceylon struggled just to defend.

Nigel and Leonore couldn’t even muster the courage to attack, running at full speed and diverting the attention of only one arm each.

Even then, Nigel, who had taken a hit, was still bleeding from his mouth despite receiving Lacy’s treatment.

In truth, I doubted whether the monster would sustain any real damage even if they attacked.

Both Nigel and Leonore were knights trained primarily for combat against humans. While not inexperienced in fighting monsters, they weren’t well-suited against such a massive opponent.

Unlike Demian’s greatsword, their weapons had a narrower attack range.

Moreover, the monster’s attack methods weren’t limited to just that.

SPLASH!

One of the monster’s arms plunged into the dark mana lake, raising black spray. The forearm visible above the surface darkened from the inside out.

When the monster lifted its arm from the lake, all our gazes turned in that direction. This was the most powerful strike among its attack methods.

The next moment, the monster’s arm whipped around, spewing the lake water it had held in its mouth. A black blade several meters long flew toward us with massive momentum.

“Oh Elpinel!”

Lacy hurriedly spread a barrier to block the dark mana slash.

KWAAANG!

The impact was enough to shake and distort the holy barrier. The water pressure cutter, colliding with the divine light, scattered and covered Lacy’s barrier like a wave before dissolving it.

Leonore, moving with Lacy, grabbed her waist and quickly dodged to escape the dark mana wave.

“I am Astraea’s sword and shield. Her wrath shall descend upon this place!”

Ceylon unleashed the light of judgment. From the holy sigil floating in the air, brilliant beams of light shot toward the monster.

As the monster growled lowly, dark mana rose like an inverted waterfall, intercepting and neutralizing the shower of light.

The endlessly rising dark mana waterfall collided with the light of judgment and dispersed.

“It blocked it…!”

Toward Ceylon, who showed a momentary opening, black lake water flew like a whip. Massive dark mana wrapped around and constricted him.

“Damn…!”

The golden holy armor enveloping his body crumbled as it was eroded by dark mana. Ceylon gritted his teeth and endured by drawing even more of Astraea’s power, but he couldn’t resist being lifted and pulled by the tentacles.

“Not on my watch!”

I rolled across the ground to avoid claws targeting my body, then swung Durandal toward the black whip that had caught Ceylon.

The space-cutting slash returned the dark mana to nothingness. The severed tentacle melted helplessly, pouring down like rain and staining the ground black.

Ceylon landed while restoring his armor with holy light and thanked me.

I just nodded slightly, then glared at the countless dark mana tentacles pouring down as if they had been waiting for us to gather in one place.

The black lake spread widely around the monster. It was literally the monster’s weapon, shield, and armor.

It was like the power of Karma of Murder that I used to employ, but on a scale several times larger. Valkers did similar things with dark mana, but the scale of power was on a completely different dimension.

Tentacles, each containing power like a master’s strike. Eight arms with power exceeding even Rurik’s blows.

It truly felt like facing an army of heroes and masters.

===================

* Evil God’s Fragment – Right Arm of Desire

This is roughly what it looks like!