Chapter 112 : Chapter 112
Chapter 112.The Real Monster
“Your Highness, Your Highness, Your Highness. Your Highness!”
Rodrigo swung his sword frantically.
Fire spewed endlessly from the blade.
Blood flowed ceaselessly from his hands.
“Please!”
The place where Maxim was.
He tried to somehow burn the wood that covered it.
But not a single scratch was made.
“Please!”
Kaang!
The sword slipped from Rodrigo’s hand.
He looked at the sword that had fallen to the ground with a dumbfounded expression.
The skin of his palms had burst, and the flesh was ragged.
“Keuk.”
Powerlessness.
It wasn't even a fight, just trying to burn some wood to open a path and save Maxim, but…….
Rodrigo shed tears.
“Not yet, sir.”
Bethel staggered and stood beside Rodrigo.
He coughed up blood and rotated his Mana Circle.
A green and dark brown energy, similar to what Smiral had shown.
“I will stab it in somehow. So please, burn everything!”
Gwak!
Finally, the wood was pierced.
Bethel, holding the sword with both hands, poured in all the mana he had.
“Cough!”
He vomited blood.
Blood also flowed from his eyes, nose, and ears.
‘I-I have to stop him…….’
Rodrigo wanted to tell him to back off. That he might die if he didn't.
But he couldn't.
Because he was the only person who had driven a sword into the fortress-like wooden prison created by Smiral.
“Now!”
Fwoosh!
The intensely blazing fire seeped into the blade.
A deep blue sword's edge.
Rodrigo raised his sword and stabbed the spot where Bethel's sword was embedded.
But nothing changed.
“Keep going. Keep going! Keoheok!”
Rodrigo looked worriedly at Bethel, who was vomiting blood.
“Quickly!”
Rodrigo's sword struck the wood, radiating heat hotter than before.
Kang, kang, kang.
My head was ringing.
I was telling whoever was doing it to stop hitting me.
A person needs to sleep…….
“Huh?”
I couldn’t see anything.
Thinking I might have gone blind, I circulated my mana.
The Talisman responded, casting a small amount of light.
“I’m fine.”
That was a relief.
By the way, where is this…….
Ah, I remembered.
I was diligently clearing out the Uresra bastards when the ground suddenly gave way.
And trees grew over my head, separating me from the world.
“That captain bastard. It must be his doing.”
I had to get out of here right now.
I slowly composed my breath and stimulated my Mana Heart.
I circulated mana throughout my body, checking each of my senses.
Nothing was broken.
There was some muscle pain, but it would get better if I diligently circulated the clean Mana Heart.
The problem was that I didn’t have enough mana to improve my physical condition.
“Hoo, how do I get out of here.”
The earth was pressing down on my body.
It was also covering my face to some extent.
It was a great fortune that my eyes, nose, mouth, and a small part of my cheeks were exposed to the air.
I had to get out before a problem arose…….
Given the situation, doing anything was not easy.
“I need to be able to move my fingers to do something.”
My arms and legs seemed to be completely bound.
Kang!
Kang!
Kaang!
They had been just pounding away from a while ago.
Whether they were searing it with fire, the snow melted and water droplets fell onto my face.
“If you’re going to break through, do it quickly!”
It was sealed so tightly that the air was thin.
Since there was little air, there was little mana floating around.
I could absorb mana to activate my energy, and envelop my whole body in aura to burst open the space, but…….
“Just make a hole!”
Crack.
Huh?
As if my voice had been heard, something sharp made a hole.
A very small hole.
Seeing them push fire through it, it seemed they were trying to widen the hole by burning the wood.
But there was no need for that. A hole that size was enough.
“Hoo.”
I focused my mind and carefully read the mana that was trickling in.
I drew a picture in my head of where the mana was moving.
I breathed in tune with that movement.
So that not even a speck of it would escape, so that it wouldn't be startled and disappear.
Thump.
As mana slowly, slowly entered my body, the mound of dirt crumbled.
Thump.
Like an empty Mana Heart filling up, dirt entered the empty space.
Koo-woong!
It seemed like they were striking down to make a hole, but they were only adding shock to the dirt that was barely maintaining its shape.
Still, the Mana Heart that had hit rock bottom was now filled by a mouse's tail worth.
Pasusususu.
Whether the frozen earth had melted, it began to crumble step by step.
My eyelids were covered, my cheeks were filled, in and out of my nostrils…….
‘If this goes on, I’m really going to die. This won't do.’
I poured all the hard-gathered mana into the Talisman.
Even buried in the earth, it emitted a brilliant light.
Impeccably clean mana entered the 4th Star Mana Heart.
Yes.
Everything was becoming clear.
The pressure disappeared, and my muscles found freedom.
Now, to get outside…….
Thump!
Kureureureuk.
‘They’re trying hard, but they’re going to kill someone with just their effort.’
There would be no need to make a separate grave.
It would be perfect to just erect a tombstone that said, ‘Maximilian Leon… Caesar fought passionately and was buried here.’
But the time was not yet.
‘I haven't even properly realized the dream I held in my past life, I can't die here! I'm living a second time to do just that! You even let me resolve my grudge!’
Kwang!
The earth and wood that had buried me erupted like a fountain.
I raised my body.
I could see stars between the clouds, see the moon, and feel the wind.
I took a deep breath while holding Dawn.
My Mana Heart filled up without restraint.
Having reached the 4th Star, and with the Talisman, the speed at which my Mana Heart filled was incomparable to before.
I circulated mana to stimulate my muscles.
Using the strength of my body, out of the pit!
Ping.
“Huh?”
“Y-Your Highness?”
Rodrigo and Bethel, covered in dirt, had surprised looks in their eyes.
The pounding from above had been the work of these guys.
“He’s alive! His Highness is alive!”
“Your Highness! Thank goodness. Truly, thank goodness!”
So that was why. To save me.
I thought they were trying to bury me with all that thumping.
“Your Highness!”
“Thank goodness. Truly, thank goodness.”
Seeing the two of them crying, I couldn't even spit out the jokes that filled my head.
Then I'd have to find someone I could spit them at.
Peong! Peo-peo-peong!
Kwaak!
It was absolute chaos.
Whether Perignon had drawn out all his strength, he was swinging his sword with considerable force.
The enemy captain was just watching it nonchalantly.
“So you’re strong, is that it?”
He was proving with his whole body why he had been so stiff.
He was standing firm even against Perignon's sword.
Did he say something about giving me despair earlier?
‘Hmm.’
I looked around.
Friend and foe alike lay dead and cold.
In terms of damage, it seemed Uresra had suffered more.
Still, many of their troops remained, but perhaps because of the captain bastard, they didn't enter the battlefield.
‘Tsk, tsk, tsk. How pathetic.’
Their captain was fighting, yet they were just watching.
Then again, if they were close by, they could die at their captain's hands, so it was understandable.
“……You've lost the will to fight. I shall end this quickly.”
The captain bastard was approaching Saint-Sard.
Saint-Sard was trembling with a rigid expression.
It was the look of someone who had experienced an overwhelming difference in power, felt that no struggle was of any use, and was consumed by fear.
“Tsk, tsk, tsk.”
I couldn't help but click my tongue.
I didn’t know how Chris intended to fight with these kinds of people.
From now on, I…….
“Ow! Shit, my head.”
I didn’t even know where to begin.
“Already?”
The captain bastard tilted his head as he looked at me.
It seemed he had expected me to come out.
“My preparations aren't finished yet.”
“I don’t recall telling you to prepare?”
“I was supposed to give you a despair befitting of you.”
“No, I don't recall saying I'd accept such a thing.”
He was just offering it on his own.
“Hmm. Yes, if a cherished animal dies before your eyes, I suppose that would be fitting.”
The fellow, re-gripping his sword, looked at Saint-Sard.
Saint-Sard gripped his Gladius with both hands and stepped back.
“It would be better if you didn’t.”
Both him and Saint-Sard.
But neither listened.
Literally, they didn't listen at all.
“Watch closely! The death of all!”
Whoosh!
Smack!
Just before the fellow's sword reached Saint-Sard’s neck, his body staggered greatly.
In the spot where he had been, Dawn stood, boasting its might.
“Huh?”
As I walked to retrieve Dawn, I saw the fellow’s arm.
Since I had thrown Dawn loaded with plenty of mana, it was normal for some part of him to be severed or shattered.
But his body was without a single wound.
No, his arm had changed as if it were covered in reptile skin.
“You ignorant fool.”
The fellow shook his body as if dusting himself off and let out a sneer.
So I played along.
“You look like one.”
“……”
It seemed he didn't know what I meant.
“……How dare you!”
Now that he finally got it, I had to tell him he was truly ignorant.
“Step back.”
I said to Saint-Sard and picked up Dawn.
At that moment, the fellow's sword flew towards my neck.
Kaang!
My body was pushed back along with Dawn.
Dawn was also trembling.
It never trembled because its blade was huge and thick, but his strength was immense.
Did it have something to do with the reptile skin?
“You block well with that ignorantly shaped sword.”
“The sword I used before was Ignorance, this one is Dawn.”
Kwang!
The fellow who blocked my downward strike frowned and looked at me.
His pupils were yellow.
Not those of a human, but those of a reptile…….
“Certainly. Certainly! You are different from the others.”
The fellow, grinding his teeth, puffed up his body and pushed Dawn away.
My entire body was pushed back as if I were tied to a carriage and being dragged.
A situation where my balance was greatly disrupted.
The fellow did not miss the opening.
Pabababak!
I blocked the sharp thorns with Dawn.
Koong.
This time, I blocked the sword flying at my side.
A heavy impact swept through my entire body.
My stomach churned.
“Cough.”
“Red blood, how disappointing.”
Did that guy think I was a beast?
No, even beasts have red blood.
Unless they are insects or reptiles.
Come to think of it…….
“Your blood isn't red?”
“……”
“Don’t tell me, you’re an experimental subject?”
The fellow’s eyes widened as if they would fall out.
These Uresra bastards, they were completely insane.
“I told them not to do it, but they went this far with people.”
“……You will not die peacefully.”
“I think that’s more likely to be you, not me.”
The fellow gripped his sword without a reply.
His leg muscles bulged.
He was planning to push forward with his whole body…….
Thwack!
I blocked it with Dawn, but I couldn't do anything about my body being lifted.
The fellow's eyes tracked me precisely.
This time, his arm muscles bulged.
Kaang!
Koong.
I blocked it once more with Dawn.
But I couldn't control being sent flying towards the wall.
“Keoheok.”
Crimson blood poured out of my mouth.
My insides were a mess, so it would be nice to catch a breath, but there was no time for that.
Kwang!
“Dodge?”
The fellow's sword passed my face and lodged deep in the rock.
I looked at the fellow and gave him a full-blown sneer.
“So I should just take it? I’m not an idiot.”
Paak!
The fellow’s face snapped to the side.
Perhaps because of the reptile skin, my fist hurt as if it would break.
In that case, I had no choice but to circulate my mana more strongly.
“Are you the only one who’s tough!”
Thwack!
Bbak!
Paak!
Head, chest, stomach.
The fellow let go of his sword and fell backward.
Taking this opportunity, I grabbed Dawn and tried to bring it down on his head.
Kang!
The fellow caught Dawn with both hands.
The shape of his hands was not human.
His pupils were not just yellow, but had turned red.
And his face too…….
“Ptui!”
He was spitting blood in a state that had changed to resemble an alligator.
But the color of the blood.
“It's blue?”
So that was why he said he was disappointed it was red.
“How can a little brat produce such power?”
The fellow tilted his head as if he couldn't understand.
“You just have to train diligently.”
Without relying on strange drugs.
“Insolent!”
The fellow made a grotesque sound and threw Dawn aside.
I, who had been holding Dawn, rolled on the ground along with it.
“Now that you have seen this form, I will not let you live.”
“When were you ever going to let me live?”
He was trying to kill me from the start.
I clicked my tongue and readjusted my stance.
The fellow, panting, sharpened his claws.
So I raised Dawn.
While pouring a ton of mana into it.
“Come.”