༺ The Lord Is With Us (51) ༻
With a sickening crack, the skull of one of the flesh seeds rushing to attack me burst open.
The flesh seed staggered and fell, spewing out blood and brain fluid. However, there were still countless flesh seeds remaining.
One on my left. Two on my right.
My hatchet moved like lightning. Thud. My hatchet split the skull of the flesh seed coming from my right, then changed its trajectory to slam down upon the remaining flesh seed.
I grabbed the flesh seed charging towards me from the left and threw it to the ground with all my might.
With a loud thud, the shock wave resonated throughout the cave, accompanied by the flesh seed’s scream.
My hand unsheathed my sword at near lightspeed. The blade, covered with a silver aura, pierced the flesh seed’s brain.
The trembling flesh seed quickly stopped twitching. It was definitely difficult to deal with them since their head was the only weak spot.
Panting, I turned around during the brief moment of leisure I had obtained. As I gazed beyond my vicinity, I witnessed a dogfight unfolding before me.
Golden claws swept through the air.
The golden aura flowing down from the air further raised the temperature in the cave, which was already burning up from the heat of battle. Five sword trajectories––three of which were real––connected with the flesh seeds, causing them to scream and twist their bodies in pain.
But the flame that was already burning them was impossible to control. Soon, three of the monsters burned into a lump of charred flesh and collapsed onto the floor.
Celine and Seria were battling with skills well beyond what they learned in training. Thankfully, there was little concern for ambush since they were covering both sides.
Crash, bang!
An explosion of sounds erupted every time Celine swung her sword. Each blow was overloaded with the mana that she had saved for the battle, causing powerful explosions and scattering blood and flesh everywhere.
On the other hand, Seria was fighting the flesh seeds with more sophisticated sword skills.
She took one step forward. A ghostly downward slash blew away one of the flesh seed’s arms.
She took another step forward. A blue line drawn horizontally through the air severed both the flesh seed’s legs.
She took her last step forward. The head of the flesh seed flopping on the ground was split open.
Unexpectedly, everyone was responding to the flesh seeds pretty well. However, the flesh seeds were still coming at us endlessly. Moreover, they were continually being replenished from the pit, even as we killed them.
We needed a powerful blow that could flip the situation for us. At that moment, a high-pitched scream reached my ears.
“Kya-Kyaaaaaaa! H-Help! Mr. I-Ian!”
Quickly coming to my senses, I instinctively flung my body to retrieve the hatchet lodged in the flesh seed’s head. I immediately swung my hatchet without even looking towards the source of the sound.
The hatchet drew a trajectory through the air with a high-pitched whistle and headed directly towards the flesh seed attacking Senior Elsie.
Thud. With the sound of a pumpkin breaking open, blood and brain fluid poured out onto the ground.
Senior Elsie was trembling with her butt on the ground. Her pale face showed how surprised she was by the sudden attack.
There was no time to form a defense line around Senior Elsie because of the wave of flesh seeds. Even if we were able to, I knew it was almost impossible to protect her from the enemies that were even falling from the ceiling.
With a sharp sound, the head of the flesh seed approaching me floated in the air.
My sword had cut off its head. And even before the head of the flesh seed started to fall to the ground, I drew more sword trajectories in the air.
Even more flesh seeds exploded in the air due to my series of high-speed attacks. Paying no mind to the carnage, I continued to run, leaving a trail of blood behind.
As I raised my hand, my hatchet returned to my hand according to the predetermined trajectory. And once again, the head of the flesh seed targeting Senior Elsie spewed out a fountain of blood.
I quickly tapped Senior Elsie on the cheek. She was still out of it.
“Senior Elsie, Senior Elsie!”
But Senior Elsie was zoned out, crying and hiccuping in between. She seemed to be completely absorbed in terror by being in a situation where her life was being threatened. The hatchet being thrown at her was just the cherry on top.
She was crouched down on the ground, covered in blood and muttering to herself.
“I-I’m sorry… E-Elsie will do better… M-Mr. Ian. Don’t leave me behind…….”
“…….Elsie Rinella!”
In the end, I lost my patience and yelled her name at the top of my lungs. When I did so, Senior Elsie’s body twitched and she let out an instinctive reply.
“Y-Yes!”
Only then, did I smile with satisfaction and stroked Senior Elsie’s head.
Her hair was sticky with blood, but it didn’t matter. I felt Senior Elsie’s tense body gradually start to relax.
I lowered my upper body and whispered in her ear.
“Start chanting.”
Senior Elsie looked at me with a puzzled expression on her face.
“B-But Mr. Ian… There’s so many enemies around us right n–… Wha–kyaaaaa?!”
I pulled Senior Elsie into my arms without a warning. With my other remaining arm, I held my hatchet while roaming the extensive battlefield.
I threw my hatchet and smashed the skulls of flesh seeds that rushed at us. The hatchet returned to my hand each time, due to the principles of Movement within Stillness, and struck the heads of other flesh seeds attacking us.
Blood and flesh splattered everywhere. I was so used to it at this point that the gruesome sight didn’t make me flinch for another second.
Senior Elsie, who was in a trance at first, came to her senses only after I shouted once more.
“…….Chant!”
“I-I will!”
Senior Elsie started to urgently recite a secretive language of mystery. Every time she repeated her chant, a bright blue ball of energy gathered around Senior Elsie and me.
Due to the unusual spurt of mana around us, all the flesh seeds turned to look. And they started running towards us in a frenzy.
One throw of my hatchet hit one flesh seed, then split the skull of another. Even then, a few more were still running at us. Senior Elsie closed her eyes tightly and was concentrating on her chant.
Then there was only one more person I could trust.
“Senior Delphine!”
“…….I know!”
Senior Delphine gritted her teeth and threw a dagger that she pulled from her waist.
The dagger, burning brightly with a golden aura, dug into the head of a flesh seed rushing at me from the side. When the monster hesitated and started to retreat, the aura burst into flames and started a fire.
As the flesh seed struggled, the flame was quickly spreading to the flesh seeds running at us nearby. It was none other than pandemonium.
Still, there were so many more flesh seeds rushing at me that I had to throw myself to the ground. In the process, I ended up exposing my back to a nearby flesh seed.
Blood started to trickle down. The strongly acidic poison penetrated my wound, burning the skin and the blood vessels surrounding it. Even though my injury was protected by mana, the poison was slowly seeping into the blood and melting through my skin.
The pain was pure agony; It almost made me lose my mind. However, even through such pain, I somehow managed to embrace Senior Elsie to minimize the shock.
And perhaps due to my desperate efforts, Senior Elsie’s magic was soon completed.
The crackling, boiling electric charges were gradually becoming white-hot.
My vision was clouded over with white and heat spread to all over my body with a crackling noise.
I deduced the power of the magic that would soon follow and shouted to the rest of the group.
“Everyone, close your eyes and get down on the ground!”
And in the next moment.
A heavy roar shook the earth.
The rumbling sound went beyond my covered ears and rang through my whole body. The white, flickering light penetrated through my closed eyelids and left a scarlet afterimage.
Screams rang out. The sound came from dying flesh seeds. I felt them writhing on the ground all over the cave.
After some time passed, I slowly raised my head while holding Senior Elsie in my arms.
The charred flesh seed corpses were giving off an acrid smell. The cave floor was dented in various places, as if to prove the pure strength of the thunderstorms that rained down.
This was the true strength of a wizard. The remaining flesh seeds within the pit had been utterly wiped out.
However, this was just the beginning.
I could feel the flesh seeds struggling to scale the pit. I guessed that a few of them would somehow manage to crawl out and climb to the ceiling once again.
There was only one way to end the battle.
Destroying the flesh nest.
I gritted my teeth and staggered to my feet. Seria’s eyes widened in surprise after seeing the scars that were left behind on my back.
She quickly ran over to me and pulled out a healing potion with her trembling hands. I stopped her.
“No, I’m poisoned anyway. There’s limits to what a healing potion can do.”
Moreover, my body had already suffered countless injuries. Even though my injuries were technically fully healed with the Heart of Blood, it was now difficult to achieve any significant effect from a healing potion.
I was still able to stumble about to get to where I needed to go. Since the poison was spreading through my body, I had to end the battle as quickly as I could.
I turned to Senior Delphine and shouted.
“Senior Delphine, we will enter the pit!”
Senior Delphine also nodded without hesitation, perhaps having decided that the flesh nest must be destroyed just as I have.
The pit was teeming with dozens of flesh seeds. It was obvious that Senior Delphine and I had to go down since we were the strongest for real combat.
“Celine, Seria! Assist Senior Elsie by getting rid of all the flesh seeds that crawl up the pit!”
After seeing both of them nod, I immediately kicked off the ground. A long jump soon followed, diving into the pit in front of me.
The flesh seeds all glared at me. As an uninvited guest, I decided to show the flesh seeds the gift I had prepared for them.
I shot my hatchet into the air.
The hatchet landed on the forehead of a flesh seed blankly looking up at me in the air. The remaining flesh seeds immediately started to screech to express their hostility towards me.
My hatchet changed trajectory once more and killed another flesh seed. Blood spurted from the top of its head then, with a thud, I landed in the pit.
I stepped forward and pulled out my hatchet. Senior Delphine’s golden aura drew a line between the flesh seeds and me.
The flesh seeds screamed and retreated from the roaring flames. Some of the flesh seeds were struggling with their bodies that caught on fire.
Still, there were too many.
Dozens of pairs of eyes were looking at Senior Delphine and me. The atmosphere made me uneasy.
When the flesh nest emitted a strange sound, saliva began to trickle from all the flesh seeds’ mouths. Even the flesh seeds that were burning to a crisp while suffering in agony turned to stare at us.
It was as if they had forgotten their pain.
I let out an exasperated laugh. Then made eye contact with Senior Delphine.
“Aren’t we fucked?”
Senior Delphine’s brows narrowed. She spoke to me as if dumbfounded by what I said.
“Haaah, you said that you would help me win….”
And as if crossing our paths together, Senior Delphine and I moved forward one step at a time.
The flesh seeds that were once aiming for each other’s backs were split in two and lying on the ground. Since the monsters didn’t feel any pain, there was no choice but to kill it in one blow.
It was possible if it was me and Senior Delphine. The only issue was that we didn’t know how long we would be able to keep fighting.
“…….I’ll trust you a little longer.”
Senior Delphine continued speaking and I put a bitter smile on my face.
And without waiting for the other person, we both kicked off the ground. Dozens of flesh seeds jumped at us as if they had been waiting for us to make the first move.
Would we be able to win? I forced my uneven breathing into order and stared straight ahead with a vague sense of anxiety.
On the opposite side, the flesh nest was emitting an unpleasant sound.
It sounded like a mocking cry. A strange sound calling down eerily from within the cave.
It was overwhelming just from looking at the size of it. It looked well above 6 meters tall, far exceeding the height of two adult men.
I broke out in a cold sweat and fumbled around to look for something.
I felt the rough texture of the parchment that I was holding.
It was finally time to put an end to this long story.
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