Book 20 Chapter 5
The Mission's Archenemy and Vanguard,
New Heaven Caditpol Knights (9)
“Moss that makes living beings decay is spread all over their skin!” said Shuan.
“They explode the moment they die or reach their destination! But if we purify that moss before their bodies decay, rescue is possible.”
Cadin Del (03)'s ability, specialized for mass murder, is Abyss Moss.
As Fride analyzed, it twists the host's metabolic abilities to an extreme, causing rapid decay, and not only that, but it also explodes.
Explosion! In this way, the mosses cling to other hosts, quickly infecting an entire area.
“This damn bastard, using anyone as a host, human or Reptilian? Indiscriminately!”
With the barrier of the Shin-Aesh-i-pyeon, blocking the moss's invasion, Fride roared in anger.
“Are you only satisfied if you turn even people unrelated to the battle into living bombs?!”
“Fride!”
“Lister, a breakthrough is impossible! It's utterly impossible for all of us to break through this and go to the Grand Plaza! At least you and Shuan go to the Grand Plaza!”
As hosts eroded by the spell of decay poured in, Fride fervently breathed out a dragon's breath.
Then, peace settled upon the faces of those who had been screaming in extreme agony as their bodies decayed while their minds were intact.
Unable to even grasp their desperately outstretched hands, they, engulfed in flames, greeted Fride with a smile of peace.
“Thank you…….”
Fride ground her molars.
“Find the caster, Kies! If you find the caster, we can end this insane mischief! Just find him! I'll deal with him myself!”
Kies, having occupied the high ground, focused his magic into his eyes.
It was an illusion, as if the world was plunging into complete darkness.
In that dark space, only beings with heat were painted in fluorescent colors according to their heat intensity.
‘Where is he?’
Kies's detection ability had already reached an unparalleled level.
‘Where is he?’
The citizens who became hosts, whose metabolism was completely twisted and whose heat intensity was determined to be low, could be eliminated.
‘Also, Reptilians, possessing the characteristics of cold-blooded animals, had the same heat intensity as the ambient temperature, so they could be filtered out from the candidates.’
On the other hand, two beings whose heat intensity far exceeded normal levels were identified in the distance.
‘Found him.’
No sooner said than done, powerful magic was greatly concentrated on the string of Baekchangung.
‘Thousand Oriole Kill!’
The Thousand Oriole Kill, with its full power concentrated to the extent that the atmosphere of the area raged, immediately scattered dazzling emerald green traces and rushed towards the enemy.
That single blow!
An arrow that had its 'power' extremely amplified solely for a frontal breakthrough, without any tricks like trajectory changes!
“…You already found my location? How annoying?”
Just before reaching Cadin Del (03), there was a being that struck it down.
Cadin Omek (06)!
That colossus of unrealistic physique, in the next instant, shattered the bell tower and leaped, instantly rushing towards Kies.
“Kies!”
Kies, by thrusting his hips far back, voluntarily disrupted his center of gravity.
His body, now in free fall, rapidly dropped, but just before the back of his head hit the ground, he hit the ground with both hands and somersaulted.
While evading Omek's slashing attack, he accurately sniped and incapacitated even the hosts who rushed in, aiming for the weak point in his evasion! A mad master!
‘Wh…?’
But!
What in the world!
‘…at?’
Kies landed almost tumbling, spewing a long stream of fresh blood from his upper body!
“Kies was clearly perfectly within the evasion trajectory of the slashing attack.”
Fride was not a martial artist, but she had enough keen observation to discern the full details of the recent engagement.
“But how? Did the sword transform?”
Rin was preoccupied with wiping out the Reptilians against Cadin Del (03), so this was closer to talking to herself. But an answer came back.
“No, the sword didn't transform. There are two of them.”
“Lister, why are you still here!”
“He was clearly holding a greatsword with both hands, so it's understandable to think the sword transformed. But he swung two swords simultaneously.”
“What are you talking about! Take Shuan and go! The most important thing is to prevent the seal from breaking, isn't it?!”
As if responding to Fride's cry, Cadin Omek (06), who had landed on the roof, stared down at them ominously.
“This bastard, is he even human…?”
It was a bizarre sensation, as if facing an inorganic being created solely for slaughter, without soul, life, or breath.
Then, four arms emerged from beneath the ragged cloak.
Lister's words were true.
One pair of arms held greatswords, and the other pair held serpentine swords!
“It means nothing.”
Amidst that violent killing intent.
And the frantic urging of his comrades.
“If we separate like this, and the result is that I alone survive, or I alone die.”
The Hero merely swung his holy sword in a grand sweep to take a stance.
“If all four of us, the Hero party, can't return home together… then it means nothing!”
The moment Cadin Omek (06), whose body moved solely by destructive instinct, charged at Lister!
Time fragmented into multiple pieces!
In that fragmented time, Lister obliquely layered his Shirping onto the trajectory of the 'pinnacle combination unleashed by two swordsmanship styles'!
“To be able to use two types of swords at the master level, what truly amazing skill.”
As a result, the greatswords and serpentine swords, crossed in a preparatory movement to unleash their sword dance, remained fixed as they were to the tip of Shirping!
“But, your swords lack the most important thing.”
What this meant was one thing!
Change of offense and defense!
One whose attack is directly thwarted inevitably needs time to recover from that inertia and recoil!
“The light of conviction, forming quietly amidst the trembling of the blade tip!”
The entire time one cannot recover their stance is a weak point.
“…!”
Dividing that 'moment of weakness' into twelve pieces, and for each piece, carving in movements of slashing, stabbing, and carving the weak point.
“Slash of Carved Intervals Sword.”
The impact that befell Cadin Omek (06)'s entire body was so fast that the afterglow left where the holy sword passed formed a single trajectory!
Chachachachachachachachachachachang!
The attacks inflicted on the legs, heart, arms, feet, and most vital points were so intense that saying they 'stormed' would not be an exaggeration!
“Gu…… GuaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
Even though she had seen this sight hundreds of times by his side, Fride could not stop the thrill that boiled over and erupted into shouts of admiration every time she saw it!
“Oh, oh, ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!”
As if mocking Fride's cheers, the strange figure did not fall, but leaped high into the air.
Moreover!
From that mid-air position, he poured down sharpened darkness like a torrential rain, and if it hadn't been for the emerald green arrows—that is, Kies—intercepting them one-on-one, Lister would have been in danger instead.
“What, what happened! Lister, you couldn't finish him?”
“Yes. The organic connection of muscle and bone… in other words, it felt completely different from cutting and carving flesh.”
“What?”
“I already know the hardness of that armor from fighting Bihkisa. That's not it. Bihkisa strengthened his body with [King's Flesh], which rather amplified the holy sword's effect… but this man is different. His body itself is like rock!”
The load applied to his wrist bones and upper arm bones was undeniably a fracture!
The reason he didn't immediately pursue the retreating Omek (06) was because Lister also needed to buy time for the regeneration of his Dragon Blood Serum.
And above all, as the enemy's armor was half-destroyed, revealing the body beneath, there was also the fact that he couldn't recklessly approach.
“I don't know his identity. What in the world happened to that monster bastard's body…!”
The body hidden beneath the armor had the texture of molten rock rather than flesh. There was no sense of life whatsoever.
Not only that.
No less than five pairs of arms sprouted from his back, and each pair even held a different weapon.
“Longsword, greatsword, tachi, serpentine sword, bow-sword… Does he wield all five types of True Divine Swords?”
Lister doubted his eyes.
“Within that one body, there are five souls. Even I find it hard to believe…”
It was Shuan's words.
Although he himself seemed to be half-doubting, since it was Shuan's word, who could see into the fabric of souls without even touching them, he had no choice but to believe.
Shuan was also healing Lister's wrist so that Lister wouldn't have to take out his Dragon Blood Serum.
As the light of dawn overflowed, the regenerative power in the fractured muscle fibers accelerated.
“They are souls each proficient in one swordsmanship style, but they are so turbidly mixed that they practically have no self. They have become like weapons, desiring only destruction and slaughter.”
Amidst Shuan's explanation, Lister stared blankly at Omek.
“That is Omek (06)…”
Before, when was it?
Right, I heard it during the fight with Meister Greta Weiser.
“He definitely said they made a deal with the first hero. In exchange for handing over biological weapons… what did he say they received as a condition?”
Anyway, yes, that must be it.
It's nothing short of a complete version of a biological experiment like Link.
But what in the world is it? The absurd malice residing in that very appearance.
‘As if that chimera… hated the identification number Omek (06) itself, which didn't exist in the Elmene Knights.’
If Greta Weiser decided on this form, she must have weighed the efficiency among forms that could wield all five types of weapons and chosen this one.
‘But what if it was the client's request?’
The first Hero, the first Paequarier, why do they harbor such malice in the identification number Omek (06)?