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chapter 36
“Ah…!”
Swish!
A spider leg, protruding randomly from the fused beast’s head, instantly sliced through Adel’s arm.
“Ugh!”
Fortunately, she dodged just in time with her reflexes; otherwise, it would have been her neck instead of her arm.
“Come here!”
Bang!
I grabbed Adel’s swaying neck and threw her backward to regain balance.
Immediately, I punched the beast in front of me.
Smash!
Azidahaka’s forepaw crushed the flesh.
But the fused creature didn’t care if its body was damaged—it counterattacked.
Shpang!
I quickly sidestepped… or so I thought.
Whoosh! Crack!
A long, unexpected spike stabbed my abdomen from an angle I hadn’t anticipated.
The impact broke my talisman defense, and I was sent flying backward.
“Damn it!”
“Hero… are… you okay?”
Even as blood poured from her severed arm, Adel worried about me.
“Shut up.”
I quickly handed her a health potion from my inventory.
The red liquid sloshed inside the transparent glass bottle.
It wasn’t a can, but a proper glass-bottled potion I had bought from a previous raid dungeon.
“Drink this.”
While a health potion couldn’t restore severed limbs or stop the bleeding completely, it could restore enough vitality to keep someone from dying.
“Drink it in small sips, not all at once. Got it?”
“Yes…”
I got back up and charged at the beast again.
It seemed fast at close range but slow in overall mobility.
Since I had been knocked back, it had barely moved from its spot.
Probably because its multiple fused bodies couldn’t properly coordinate their limbs.
‘I’ll have to unleash maximum power and obliterate it in one go.’
Its range was strong, but its movement was slow.
Then I’d just pour my power into a single devastating strike.
‘Should I use the long-range bombardment wave chain? No, that’d be too flashy.’
I considered the long-range wave chain, but it was unnecessarily large and conspicuous for this confined space.
Instead, I decided to use the close-range, most powerful “Impact Wave Chain.”
Thak!
Once decided, there’s no hesitation.
With my talisman defense broken, every incoming attack would pierce my flesh and bone.
But I wasn’t afraid.
I had full confidence in countering every attack.
‘Gae Volgr Rampage.’
Thirty miraculous consecutive hits rained like shrapnel.
The fused beast countered with all its grotesque limbs, but my attack count far exceeded its defenses. None of its attacks reached me.
Vwoom. Vwoom.
After the flurry of hits struck the beast, I felt the heavy resonance of the Impact Wave in my chest.
I channeled it into my right hand.
‘Bankruptcy Fist, Caladbolg.’
This time, I unleashed a punch capable of shattering even a mountain.
Kwaaa!
A whirlwind of force hit the fused beast.
Its grotesquely fused flesh tore apart, splattering dark red blood and yellowish pus everywhere.
The energy storm was so intense it destroyed the armory entrance wall and punched a huge hole through the rear wall.
But I didn’t stop there.
‘One more hit left.’
The wave chain didn’t end here.
Kwaaa!
The lingering force of the Impact Wave resonated throughout my body.
Normally, if left unused, the wave would dissipate naturally.
But using a disperser channel released it all at once, creating a massive wave.
Capturing that instant allowed me to wield a higher level of power.
‘I can see it. The flow of power.’
In the next moment, I visualized the kinetic energy from the beast’s movements.
Its maximum point of inertia.
Hitting that point would amplify my punch with its own inertia.
The beast’s inertia was currently directed toward the opposite wall.
Bang!
I was already behind it, striking its torso precisely.
The impact sent the beast flying backward.
But I flew even further.
As if sucked into a black hole, space seemed to stretch, and in the blink of an eye, I was standing in the beast’s rebound path again.
I struck once more, targeting the exact point of maximum destructive potential.
Bang!
And again.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Three times, four times, over and over.
It was an endless hell of relentless blows.
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
Recursive Impact Wave Dispersal.
Active Inertia Response, Clarent.
A magical-like miracle unleashed a merciless counterattack until the target was reduced to mush.
The fused beast was crushed beyond recognition.
Thud. Thud.
Its grotesque body parts were torn apart and scattered everywhere.
Wriggle, wriggle.
Yet the torn pieces moved independently, trying to attack me.
“Damn, persistent little bastards!”
I finally pulverized every part into dust with my fists before they ceased moving entirely.
“Adel! Are you okay?”
Immediately after the fight, I rushed to her.
“Yes… I’m… okay for now.”
She had sipped the potion little by little to stabilize her fading energy.
“Hold on. Don’t lose focus, okay?”
“Yes… I will.”
I picked her up and leapt outside through the hole in the wall made by Caladbolg.
Early morning, before sunrise, Lord Marcus woke and headed to the bathroom, attended by his maid.
Entering the spacious bathroom with a high ceiling, the maid grimaced and covered her nose.
A stench of rotting corpses filled the room.
Even the sewage beneath a toilet wouldn’t compare.
“Does this smell bad?”
But Baron Marcus showed no reaction.
He even seemed annoyed at the maid covering her nose.
“Pardon?”
“Then my own smell must be terrible to you.”
“No! Not at all!”
The maid waved her hands, denying it, though she likely thought otherwise.
Baron Marcus, over forty, was an androgynous beauty, almost impossible to tell male from female.
Yet despite his looks, he reeked.
Noble perfumes masked it partially but didn’t eliminate the stench entirely.
“No?”
“Yes! Your Excellency has a fragrance as beautiful as your appearance!”
“Ha ha!”
Marcus laughed, a rare smile for his servants.
He loved compliments about his looks.
Among his subordinates, it was common knowledge that when the Baron was in a bad mood, praising his looks was mandatory.
It didn’t always produce the desired results.
“Then you’ll bathe with me too!”
“…What?”
A male noble bathing with a female servant seemed suspicious, but Marcus’ baths were extraordinary.
Splash. Splash.
“Ugh… aaah… ughhh!”
Hahaha!
Marcus washed his body with the blood of children brought from his domain under the pretext of maintaining beauty.
He cruelly exploited the residents, seizing children if taxes weren’t paid, using them to maintain his appearance.
The public hated him for his grotesque actions.
“Ah, refreshing.”
After the bath, he went for breakfast, attended by a different servant than before.
“Your Excellency!”
A knight blocked his path in the hallway.
“What is it? Why block me?”
“Forgive my rudeness! But I must report….”
“That can wait until after breakfast.”
“This is urgent! The armory’s weapons and equipment have all been stolen!”
“……What?”
The Baron’s previously calm expression hardened.
“Moreover, yesterday the townsfolk even threw stones at the mercenaries! This… is rebellion!”
Marcus knew they hated him.
But anger alone couldn’t defeat armed soldiers.
Yesterday was a minor incident; a full fight would be an overwhelming massacre.
The system-made barriers completely isolated the castle.
No one could cross them, meaning his power was absolute within.
Marcus, an NPC but self-aware, understood this.
Hence his unrestrained cruelty.
“What kind of bastard…”
Looking outside, the once-clear morning sky was now completely red.
“Divine revelation? Kill them all?”
An unprecedented, abnormal sight.
The red sky felt like a prelude.
Though technically, it was a result, not a prelude.
“Your Excellency, please give orders!”
“I’ll handle it myself. Summon the knights immediately.”
“Yes! Understood!”
The knight ran to the barracks.
Heh heh… a red sky. How splendid.
The Baron smiled wickedly, staring out.
“What is happening?”
“Has a demon’s curse descended?”
The townsfolk murmured at the blood-red sky.
They woke to a world turned red.
Naturally, everyone would be puzzled.
But the most perplexed was me.
‘What the…?’
I was examining the patch notes I got from the diamond auction.
Though called patch notes, it was closer to a strategy guide.
From requirements to become Lord of Alford Castle to the minutiae of all quests, it detailed all possible futures.
‘Nothing here mentions this…’
No mention of the red sky.
Such a massive world-altering phenomenon should have been noted.
‘Last night’s fused beast too… something is seriously off.’
Was I the anomaly? Or a cause of the anomaly?
Perhaps my existence, disrupting the system’s laws, was distorting this world.
‘So this is the side effect manifesting.’
Ignoring it was no longer possible.
‘No choice. Regretfully, I must retreat.’
Anything more here would be dangerous.
Instinctively, I felt it was reckless to continue without better preparation.
‘Adel, I’m sorry, but this is as far as we go.’
Fortunately, she was stabilizing after last night’s battle.
But I had to leave.
Staying would bring misfortune to both the people and Adel.
Step by step, I exited the castle and returned to the spot where I first entered the dungeon.
A stone portal stood there. I stepped onto it.
‘After some time, we’ll try again… hmm?’
Instead of traveling through the portal, a warning message appeared.
“What…?”
It was a chilling message, as if the system cursed me.
{@$%&ad67&(&^^f786ffga}
{Here}
{Death}
{…}
