Ch.789But It’s Third-Rate!

About ten monsters huddled together, trembling in fear.

Looking at their unsightly appearance, the disgust and displeasure that had filled my mind seemed to gradually dissipate. Even my boiling blood was settling down to a calm.

I stopped my sword and exhaled the heat that had built up in my chest with a sigh.

“Phoooo…”

Whoosh.

Red vapor escaped between my teeth, scattering with small sparks. Like a dragon savoring the taste of fire.

Creating flames with my breath—at this point, hadn’t I transcended humanity and become something entirely different?

Even Hersella from the original story didn’t breathe fire, if I recall correctly.

“G-grrrk…!”

Perhaps thinking my sigh was the prelude to a new attack, the surviving monsters flinched and backed away.

Seeing them cower with hands raised to shield their faces, I realized they thought I might breathe fire at them.

Well, I could if I wanted to. I’d just need to expel the flames of Karma from my tongue instead of my fingertips.

It would take some time to get used to, but… that would improve with practice. Maybe later I could even shoot heat rays from my eyes? Now that would be truly monstrous.

[You really went wild without restraint. Wasting power like it was water.]

As I was smirking at the thought of breathing flames from my eyes and mouth, Hersella scolded me in a tone that could have been either grumbling or mockery.

Apparently, she wanted to criticize me for rapidly depleting the power of Karma of Murder by recklessly firing area attacks…

‘Acting cool now? You were enjoying it too, weren’t you?’

[Kuh…!]

Hersella was rendered speechless by my cutting remark.

Anyone else might have had the right, but Hersella certainly didn’t. She had been just as excited as I was.

She had cackled madly while using the Karma tentacles—which substituted for my left arm—to tear everything around us to shreds. Now she was criticizing me for wasting power? Talk about the pot calling the kettle black.

[…Well, it’s fine. Though you wasted too much power, we were ultimately able to eliminate those disgustingly vile spawn of evil. The remaining vermin won’t even withstand a single strike.]

Perhaps realizing there was no point in continuing the argument, Hersella cleared her throat and changed the subject, directing my attention toward dealing with the remaining monsters.

‘That would be true for just the remaining ones.’

I wiped my blood-soaked face with my forearm, then swung Durandal sideways to shake off the chunks of flesh and entrails clinging to the blade.

[That means…]

‘We’ve cleared out most of the monsters that emerged… but look. That hole still hasn’t disappeared.’

The black holes that had been spewing hordes of monsters were closing one by one as time passed, but the largest hole remained on the ground at one side of the cavern, humming as it sucked in the blood, flesh, and entrails of the monsters.

– Gooooo….

Like rainwater and fallen leaves flowing into a pit, the black hole greedily sucked in the dead monsters.

The fact that it remained open was clear evidence that this battle was not yet over.

[Indeed, that’s right…]

‘Looking at how it’s gaping wide open, something’s bound to come out soon. No idea what kind of creature it’ll be.’

Isn’t it the rule in these kinds of battles that the strongest opponent emerges last?

That’s how it was in the original story. You couldn’t know which monster would appear until you faced it… but every monster that emerged was invariably powerful.

Well, not as powerful as me, of course.

Whether a wyvern or drake—dragon-like monsters—emerged, or an undead like the “Knight of Ruin” I faced before with hero-level martial prowess, I was confident I could defeat them in my current state.

—-

After cleanly disposing of the ten trembling monsters, I took a brief rest while waiting for the final monster to emerge.

As for rest, with no proper place to sit, it consisted merely of standing around, shaking off blood, and smoking a cigarette.

Even that I only took a couple of puffs before throwing it away.

‘…Shouldn’t have smoked.’

I frowned and muttered with displeasure.

It was because of the tingling sensation coming from my body—like a fever—as the excitement of battle subsided.

I hadn’t been paying much attention to it lately, but thinking about it now, the cigarettes—Mana Herbs—in this world had the effect of clearing the mind and heightening bodily sensations.

That’s why people here smoked Mana Herbs.

“Ugh…”

The problem was that I had been drenched in fluid mixed with aphrodisiacs just minutes ago.

It was like the secretion of a tentacle monster. Its original purpose might have been direct absorption through the mucous membranes, as merely getting it on the skin didn’t have much effect…

But saying it didn’t have much effect meant it still had some effect.

With the Mana Herb’s sensation-amplifying effects added to a body that still had traces of aphrodisiac, certain body parts began to burn, tingle, and throb.

[Ungh… hnngh…! What is this sensation…!]

Hersella, who had been grumbling about when the enemy would appear, was now clearly confused, showing signs of never having pleasured herself.

It was fortunate that I firmly held control over the Karma, otherwise Hersella, intoxicated by the aphrodisiac, might have drawn out tentacles to quench her body’s thirst.

[What on earth… hyuk, what have you done to me…!]

Unlike when she was under the charm spell, Hersella seemed to be receiving all the sensations from my body directly, moaning with an aroused voice.

I didn’t give her any answer.

It was a bit embarrassing even for me to bluntly explain “we’re in heat” to the confused Hersella.

[Hnnngh…!]

‘……’

Yearning moans echoing in my head.

The heated thirst rising from hardened and moistened places.

Pleasure and displeasure.

Ignoring all those sensations through gritted teeth, I prayed for the enemy to appear as soon as possible.

Rather than enduring by squeezing my slightly twisted thighs, I would have felt hundreds of times more comfortable bleeding in a fierce battle against a strong enemy.

And then.

– Guuuung!

Perhaps my prayers had reached heaven.

The bottomless pit of dark mana that had been gulping down blood and flesh finally began to show new changes.

The ground surrounding the circular hole cracked like ice and collapsed inward, while the surface of the hole filled with dark mana, bubbling up like stew over a campfire and spewing acrid foam.

It was clearly a sign that something was about to emerge.

‘Here it comes, get ready!’

[Hyuk… what’s coming…? Hnng…! Rather, I’m about to… hnng… go somewhere…!]

…She’s not going to be any help now.

I thought someone born as a barbarian who enjoyed slaughter and rape as entertainment would have more resistance to this sort of thing, but she’s acting like a virgin with her sensitivity turned up a hundredfold.

No wonder she ended up like that in the ending.

Anyway, rather than expecting the same level of performance from the delirious Hersella, it seemed better to fight alone.

I would use up what little Karma remained to knock the confused Hersella unconscious, which would also silence the moaning in my head.

“Haaaa…”

I exhaled a sigh filled with strangely sweet scent, then firmly gripped Durandal while spreading the power of Karma throughout my entire body.

– Chwaaak!

I stared at something that suddenly surged up from the bubbling black pit along with a fountain of dark mana.

Dark mana burst out like spray and covered the surroundings like waves.

At its center, through the fog of dark mana spread like a curtain, a massive form slowly rising could be glimpsed.

“Finally showing yourself!”

A blue arc cut through the air, followed by a vacuum blade along its trajectory.

The void-cutting technique that tore through the ground like a beast’s claws ripped apart the curtain of dark mana concealing its form and embedded itself in the creature’s body.

“———!”

With a roar closer to a thunderous boom than a beast’s cry, the fog caught in the vacuum blade scattered, revealing the form of the final monster that had crawled out.

Now then.

Let’s see what kind of creature was so heavy it took this long to emerge.

I lowered my stance slightly with my legs apart, resharpening my killing intent and fighting spirit that had been fading due to lust, and glared at the creature.

It wasn’t particularly large.

About ten meters in size, its rounded silhouette resembled a whale, and near its tail, hundreds of tentacles were intertwined like tree roots instead of fins.

“…Ha, seriously.”

As soon as I confirmed its full appearance, I sighed deeply and muttered as if lamenting.

Of all the monsters, why did it have to be this one? I couldn’t help but sigh.

“——.”

Like the summer night sky, its translucent purple skin sparkled with stars filling its interior.

Each time it breathed in and out, the stars swam and danced through the night sky, changing their shapes and positions.

A form like a piece of the universe cut out and shaped into a whale.

Not an undead type that breathes dark mana into the dead to raise them, nor a hybrid grafted with dark mana from all sorts of creatures, but the third type of monster.

Void type.

The worst type of monster that cannot be subjugated without a holy sword had appeared before us who had come to retrieve that very holy sword.