Chapter 47
Kang-!
As Zarcan suddenly charged, the monster raised its arm to block his sword.
A dull, yet sharp sound rang out.
‘Is this not enough?’
Arsene slightly furrowed his brows.
It had been a decisive strike. But it was difficult to expect that single blow to leave a mark on such a colossal monster.
When the monster’s body and Zarcan’s sword collided, the impact was so strong that Arsene’s fingertips tingled.
Yet, the monster seemed utterly unscathed.
Almost as if what Arsene had felt was an illusion.
“Aha-ha, Oppa. What’s this? It looked impressive, but is that all? Look, Oppa! It’s perfectly fine!”
The girl on the monster’s shoulder laughed brightly.
Zarcan’s momentum had been truly fierce.
Inwardly, she hadn’t been nervous at all when dealing with the red-haired mercenary, but when Zarcan attacked, she had genuinely tensed up.
She had even prepared to channel her magic, ready to consider other means if necessary.
But what was this?
“Ah, I get it. No matter how great the Esper is, it’s useless against my child, right? Of course! After all, look how much effort I put into creating this baby!”
The girl laughed in a high-pitched voice while stroking the monster, overflowing with pride for her creation.
Hearing that, Yurein’s face hardened for a moment.
‘Created… that monster?’
Did that mean-.
Just then, Arsene’s eyes widened in surprise, and he let out a sigh-like sound.
“Uh.”
The monster’s movement was strange.
Even though Zarcan had retreated, the monster couldn’t easily lower its arm.
And then—.
Crack, C-crack!
The monster’s arm split apart. Precisely from where Zarcan had swung his sword.
The monster’s black epidermis shattered into pieces.
From the point of impact, the arm broke apart as if splitting, and soon one entire shoulder was gone.
“Uh, uhh-uhhhhh?”
The shoulder, even the opposite one where the girl was sitting, was completely shattered.
The girl, flustered, raised her hands.
“Wh-what, what is th-this…?”
“It’s too early to be surprised.”
Zarcan raised his sword once more.
His sharply condensed mana still rippled intensely around the blade.
It was the result of him layering and sharpening his mana around the sword, one layer at a time, while Arsene bought him time.
‘And that sword…’
Arsene looked up at Zarcan with pride.
That sword couldn’t help but be special. Just like his own.
Arsene reflexively tightened his grip on his own sword.
No wonder Zarcan’s mana was fiercer than usual.
Zarcan raised his sword high.
It moved fluidly, as if it were a part of his own body.
As Zarcan’s mana shimmered around the blade, it was as if starlight was glittering along with the sword.
In that state, he thrust deeply once more, aiming for the monster’s neck.
Crunch-thud!
The blade sank into the monster’s neck.
The monster twitched and shuddered, unable to even scream.
Soon—
Crack!
The monster’s neck completely separated from its body and fell.
From the severed cross-section, black powder, identical to the monster’s skin, flowed out and scattered into the air.
“…What?”
The girl was now floating in the air, having somehow moved off the monster’s shoulder. She seemed completely unharmed.
But perhaps the decapitation of the monster was quite a shock, as her previously chattering voice was gone, replaced by a sharp edge.
“No, Oppa. Ha…!”
Her once relaxed voice was now filled with irritation.
“Do you have any idea how much effort I put into that thing?!”
Aaaah!
As she screamed, Zarcan swiftly closed in on her.
But.
Clang-!
The sword he swung with all his strength was blocked by something and could advance no further.
Zarcan’s face contorted into a grimace.
This was definitely black magic.
He had encountered black magic before while subjugating monsters.
Strangely enough, there were times when he fought monsters with strong traces of black magic.
He always filed reports, but the responses from the Imperial Family and the Temple were always the same.
They just reiterated that monsters were inherently evil, and so was black magic.
But the black magic Zarcan had encountered until now was never to this extent.
If what he had found in monsters before were mere ‘traces’ of black magic—
This was pure black magic itself.
“I, I put so much effort into this. And now it’s like this?”
The girl spoke, gnashing her teeth in anger.
The helmeted, giant monster was slowly crumbling.
The monster’s once massive body turned to ash and scattered softly in the wind.
The girl watched this for a long moment before turning her gaze to Zarcan.
“Oppa, you did it. Congratulations.”
“No. Since you’re still alive, it’s not a success.”
Zarcan channeled mana into his sword.
Vrrrm-.
The sword vibrated finely.
But it was a world of difference compared to when Yurein provided guidance.
Zarcan’s mana was less fierce than before.
There was no way he could break through a barrier that he couldn’t pierce even with Yurein’s guidance.
“No. It is a success. Amazing.”
The girl growled, her voice filled with unmistakable rage.
“To think you could pull this off. Truly amazing. Oppa, you’re more impressive than I thought? I shouldn’t have just ignored you. Right—.”
Her heavily subdued voice gradually grew brighter.
Soon, it returned to a cheerful, sing-song tone.
The girl spread her palms wide and fluttered her hands lightly.
“Oppa, you’re really something! But, you see, I’m feeling a bit upset! So I’m going to try this!”
With that, she lightly clapped her hands together.
It was merely a clap, but Zarcan, sensing an instinctual dread, quickly pulled his body back.
“Oh my, you’re quick too.”
The moment the girl grinned brightly, he realized something was wrong.
Zarcan turned his body and retreated backward.
If he were alone, it wouldn’t matter. Whether this body shattered or broke.
The reason this body was shattered would be because he destroyed it himself for the Empire.
But now was different.
Behind him was Yurein. He couldn’t die here, at the very least.
Just as Zarcan swiftly moved back to protect Yurein—
The ‘ash’ swirling around the girl, the remains of the shattered monster, suddenly stopped moving.
The grey ash turned black, and in an instant, black vines sprouted from the ash, forming buds.
The change that started around the girl quickly began to spread from one pile of ash to another.
Zarcan quickly returned and spread his mana widely around Yurein.
He then began cutting down the vines that had already started spreading widely around Yurein.
- Child. You might find this difficult. No, you will find it difficult. I’m sorry.
The Castle Lord apologized in advance.
Yurein knew the situation was turning serious, but she didn’t know why the Castle Lord was suddenly apologizing, so her eyes widened.
“Ugh!”
An intense, sudden pain washed over her.
“Miss, are you okay?”
Arsene hurriedly rushed over.
But Yurein had no capacity to pay him any mind.
Thump-. Thump-.
The sound of her heart pounding echoed in her ears.
Her fingertips trembled and she couldn’t muster any strength. She felt dizzy, and the focus in her eyes gradually blurred.
The blue aura flowing from the Castle Lord’s body became much stronger than before.
That aura spread out, preventing the ‘flowers’ from blooming.
But.
Even so, it couldn’t stop every single flower from blooming.
“A little more… Can you do a little more?”
Even with her blurry vision, Yurein assessed the situation and spoke.
The fact that the Castle Lord was going to such lengths to stop it meant the situation was really bad.
The Castle Lord was being considerate of Yurein’s body, its contractor.
Perhaps even more than Yurein herself.
Yet, the fact that he was doing this, knowing it would strain Yurein, meant the situation about to unfold was that serious.
- Child, no. Then you will truly die.
“You’ll control it for me, right?”
Yurein smiled faintly and buried her face in the Castle Lord’s back.
She didn’t know what those flowers were.
But she could clearly feel the turbid energy growing thicker with each bud that formed.
Then the situation would likely become very unfavorable.
And that might cause truly great damage to Parmahal. - Child…
The Castle Lord spoke as if sighing.
“My body… it just needs to not die. Please just make it so I can be saved by finding a healing Esper. I still have some potions left too.”
Yurein gave a pained smile.
“No, let’s not do that.”
Just then, Zarcan spoke as he cut down a flower bud that appeared in front of Yurein.
“You promised to accompany me. So please stay by my side.”
Then he met Yurein’s eyes.
“Don’t think it’s okay to suffer, don’t allow it. Just be here, within the limits of what doesn’t push you too far. Please.”
