Ch.92Cannibalism (13)

The golden pulsation distorts the space.

Unless they were dying beneath the rubble, everyone had no choice but to witness that pulsation.

People either wiped away tears that flowed unconsciously or simply stared at the figure without even noticing their tears.

They couldn’t understand why they were crying, why they felt so moved looking at that strange man.

It was something close to instinct.

A qualification once held by a being loved by all creation, a man who had now become a transcendent.

Divinity.

They looked at the man as if he were a long-lost parent.

They simply couldn’t look away. This was true for both Isla and Selma.

Though in Selma’s case, her expression was different from the others.

“…How…?”

Selma stood up. She was regenerating. The blessing was fully returning to her.

The meaning of this phenomenon was simple. The warrior had rejected the blessing.

No, it was more than just rejection. If he had merely rejected it, it wouldn’t have returned to her.

This was at a level that could be considered “Mother’s will.”

Mother wanted to fight that man with newly bestowed power.

Though she didn’t understand the details, Selma clearly grasped what had happened.

She realized that Llewellyn was making Mother’s power his own.

“How…!?”

Of course, her assumption was only half correct.

Llewellyn’s golden pulsation gradually turned colorless. It slowly changed to a brilliance close to white.

Even the darkness flowing along the golden surface was swallowed, and the merciful golden light that seemed to embrace all life was devoured by the grayish-white pulsation.

All that remained was the pulsation distorting space with whiteness and the gray flames burning within it.

The power of a new immortal born from devouring the ranks of kindred, transcendents, and absolutes who once bore the name of gods.

Within that, Llewellyn, his upper body completely exposed, slowly opened his eyes as he exhaled.

His gray pupils emitted a radiance.

Eyes containing divinity turned toward Selma.

Selma’s face contorted in response.

Her entire arm transformed into that of a snow leopard, and her legs began to change as well. A dark energy swirled around the axe she gripped.

The power to plunder life that she hadn’t used before.

This was a supreme power that could only be obtained when a Mourner reached level 20, a power she hadn’t used because she hadn’t intended to kill Llewellyn easily.

As she infused this power into the hand axe she held, Selma growled.

“Llewellyn―!”

“Shut up.”

With a thudding sound, the ground momentarily flipped.

Selma, flying in a straight trajectory, was invisible.

To make matters worse, Selma didn’t end with just a linear acceleration.

Collapsed and tilted buildings.

The walls of the underground city, the ground, buildings that had partially collapsed and overlapped each other.

Selma bounced off countless terrain features.

Kwakwagwagwagwagwaga!

The trajectory that began on the ground moved erratically.

She kicked off walls, ran along ceilings, plunged back to the ground, then accelerated sideways.

Her form distorted dizzily. Her approach was so fast that even Isla couldn’t notice it.

Likewise, Llewellyn couldn’t see her either. She was invisible.

But.

Llewellyn unconcernedly took his stance.

[You have absorbed divinity, gaining a talent.]

Ignoring the incomprehensible message, he controlled the sensation flowing through his body.

That sensation created his posture.

Legs spread wide, right hand forward.

But with the palm facing upward, fingers curled as if forming a beast’s claws.

The left hand took a similar shape but stopped around the solar plexus.

A stance that seemed meant for tearing with claws.

[Dragon Dropping]

[“This is my answer.”

-The Dragon King, to the necromancer, his ancestor.]

[This is a martial art that was originally used independently by dragonkin, then refined and completed by the Dragon King of that era.

It is a battlefield art that splits dragon scales harder than any metal, tears wings, and uses one’s own bones and scales as armor.

It is a martial art with the arrogant ambition to even bring down one’s ancestors,

And it is the answer that a certain Dragon King found while wandering between right and wrong.]

[All unarmed attacks are changed to slashing attribute, and are considered weapon attacks with a minimum of 2 points and maximum of 12 points, ignoring slashing resistance.

Additionally, proficiency bonus is added to unarmed attack rolls and damage rolls.

This proficiency bonus is treated separately from martial arts and stacks.]

He had no weapon. He had torn off his armor with his own hands.

He had no choice, as it was both a shackle and a cocoon. He had lost much blood, and his regeneration had decreased.

Moreover, the enemy absorbed life force. Recognizing all these facts, Llewellyn instinctively used the divinity flowing through his body.

Standing firmly on the ground, he read the memory of this massive planet.

He extracted the martial art of someone on this land, a very powerful and scarred woman.

The woman’s gaze met Llewellyn’s. The eyes of a golden dragon, vertical pupils etched in clear regret.

Meeting them, Llewellyn respectfully bowed his head.

I’ll borrow this.

The gaze returned. A form rushing at ultra-high speed, a blurry afterimage.

Llewellyn moved toward that afterimage.

Kagaaaang!

And so a thunderous sound echoed.

The approaching form stopped, and wide blue-gray eyes met gray ones.

For an instant, the pupils in those gray eyes seemed to split vertically.

And reflected in those split pupils was an axe.

The axe and the fingers blocking it.

A mere fabric-like attack extending like dragon claws to block the metal.

Seeing this, Selma immediately regained her composure.

She pulled back her axe, landed on the ground, and swung the dark energy-infused axe in succession.

To the eyes of ordinary people, not Isla, it looked like her arm suddenly split into several, unleashing dark slashes in a chaotic barrage.

A fierce attack suggesting that everything until now had been her holding back. In the midst of this, Llewellyn inhaled.

Thump, thump, thump.

His heart was beating. For the first time since falling into this world, his heart pulsed.

And with each heartbeat, immeasurable power flowed through his entire body.

As his pupils emitted light, Llewellyn moved forward.

Soon, metallic sounds shook the surroundings.

The roar of metal striking metal. The sound of pushing and hammering each other several times in a single breath clearly revealed that a proper exchange of attacks and defenses was taking place.

Mere hands versus a hand axe in combat. Anger boiled in Selma’s pupils.

“Why…! Why―!”

She squeezed her throat as if screaming and swung her axe. Stepping forward, she thrust upward from below.

Aiming for the neck.

Due to her life-stealing power, even a homunculus would die if touched.

So he didn’t let it touch him. Llewellyn, who had been holding his right hand in a dragon claw shape, clenched his fist and struck the hand axe with the back of his hand.

Clang, with a sharp metallic sound, her arm was deflected.

Selma used the force pushing against her to spin and delivered a roundhouse kick.

A strike that had already torn off his jaw and pierced his body several times. But it didn’t connect.

Chwaaaaaaak!

Instead, he suppressed it with his elbow, then stepped back and swung his leg.

The swung leg became a slash. Leaving a mark as if struck by a greatsword, it cut off Selma’s arm.

Her arm fell with hot blood, and though Selma lost one arm.

But she had connected. Selma smiled with eyes full of madness.

The hand axe had somehow penetrated Llewellyn’s shoulder.

It was an axe swing she had delivered after closing the distance when he was suppressed after delivering a kick.

A strike that even the most experienced warrior couldn’t avoid. Black energy that plundered life writhed as it penetrated Llewellyn’s body.

She had won.

She had restored glory to Mother.

She had reclaimed the vessel with her own hands.

That’s how it should have been, but.

Thup.

“…What?”

The axe was pushed back. Gripped by his left hand, it slowly withdrew from his flesh.

“How?”

It was impossible. She tried to retreat with wide, surprised eyes, but his right hand held her.

“How is it that Mother’s power… doesn’t work on you?”

Neither life plundering nor Mother’s influence worked.

Even the red beast Hertol had been controlled by this.

So no matter how powerful one’s life force or superhuman mental strength, there should be no resistance to this trick.

That’s how it should be.

Because no matter how strong a human is, they can’t resist the world.

That’s why she didn’t know.

That “Mother’s power” she drew out was being absorbed by Llewellyn as fast as she summoned it.

The power of Mother Netel and the power of Father God were all the same.

They are wielded when drawn out. Because they are too powerful and too pure.

That’s why a filter was needed.

A filter that burns with gray pulsation, scatters light, and melts all divinity and power into its own.

Something that could filter out the evil will to control and the sadness within.

Llewellyn’s heart.

The vessel found its own use, and thus accepted all the power poured into it.

That he would no longer be controlled.

That he wanted to protect his life with his own hands.

That they should stop trying to control him.

It was a new divinity created with such will.

That divinity shattered Selma’s scheme.

Step.

Llewellyn approached. Selma retreated but couldn’t escape.

Crack, the axe broke.

Selma stumbled backward and fell.

Beyond the broken axe, he grabbed her wrist, and though she swung her claws with her regenerated arm.

Grab, he caught it. With both arms restrained, Selma was cornered.

“What on earth are you…?”

Only then did she notice the anomaly.

It wasn’t simply that he had escaped Mother’s influence.

She realized that Mother’s power that had returned to her body was diminished compared to before.

The power was insufficient. In the prolonged fight, regeneration was deliberately slowed, and the fatigue and wounds that should have healed when Llewellyn betrayed Mother’s will still remained in her body.

As for Llewellyn?

He smiled while holding Selma’s two arms.

“A monster.”

This time, that word from his mouth wasn’t self-deprecating as usual.

Rather, it was refreshing and crisp.

He smiled and tilted his head back.

Kwaaaang!

And headbutted Selma’s face with full force.

With that, Selma’s consciousness was cut off.