Chapter 188
Chapter 188
The abomination known as the Hive Walker swelled past ten meters in a matter of seconds as its mutation reached a climax.There was no time for long explanations. Karen summarized it in the briefest, bluntest way possible.
She had taken down a knight, a strange stone shot up from below and fused with his body, the monster twisted into a grotesque form, and she lured it toward the margrave’s estate to set enemy against enemy.
However, the idiotic black mage had blundered forward, only to be smashed into pulp with a single punch. Then, the now-weakened knights were devoured as well.
Leon and Elahan’s expressions after hearing Karen’s summary matched hers exactly.
“A mess...”
“A mess indeed...”
No strategist alive could have foreseen things turning out like this. Which was why Leon didn’t press her further—not that this was the time to. Even as they spoke, the Hive Walker’s mutation was almost complete.
“Grrk... Grk... Gugh...”
Flesh that had been loose and gelatinous hardened into taut fibers, bones, and ligaments twining with a bowstring’s tension. Six uneven legs straightened into symmetry, and ten arms reshaped into jagged lances in place of fingers.
From its warped silhouette, it now looked like a chimera forged from a herd of centaurs, but that wasn’t all. The countless eyes bulging from its head and torso bled with crimson light, dripping the viscous energy of black magic.
“What the hell is that freak...?”
Karen, who had watched it from the beginning, could only gape at the extremely dramatic transformation. Leon, with the Stigma of the Observer, also pierced through the truth.
“It’s already S+, or even higher. No true weak points. Its physical power alone seems enough to trample a cyclops.”
“And its regeneration, its immortality... still all there?” Karen asked.
“Most likely,” Leon confirmed her fears. “And, Karen, your attacks probably won’t do much damage. Try to focus on guiding its movements to where we want it to go, or pinning it down.”
“Got it.”
“Elahan, be ready to form a Sanctuary. If this thing breaks out of the manor and into the city, the casualties will be catastrophic.”
“Yes, Hero Leon. As you command.”
At her answer, Leon only nodded once, though in his heart he knew this fight would be troublesome. They could have ended it swiftly mid-mutation, but striking then would have ruptured a dam of negative energy. The resulting shockwave would have devastated everything for kilometers, far too fast even for Elahan to contain.
El-Cid’s laughter echoed in his mind.
—Hah! That penalty’s what they call the Hero’s burden. There’s more to weigh than just efficiency. What do you say? Feel the weight on your shoulders yet?
Leon gave a quiet snort and drew his sword.
Nope.
Letting himself be cowed by a single monster? The Holy Sword would weep in his hands. The disguise of worn steel fell away, revealing the blade’s true brilliance. In answer, a pair of radiant wings unfurled at his back. Leon rose into the air, his body haloed in light as he brought out Icarus Wings.
The darkness of the night peeled back around him, leaving Leon as its axis.
“Gruh?”
The Hive Walker lifted its many heads toward the glare. Dozens of eyes flared with malice.
“Grooooaaarh!”
The creature’s foundation was the Wraithstone, completed by Nigel’s black magic. Its nature skewed wholly negative, so it recoiled instinctively from the solar force shining at its peak.
Just as Leon had planned, he was marked as its first-priority target.
Here it comes.
That enormous body worked against its favor. Even the smallest twitch was obvious. To Leon, who had Rodrick’s Vision on hand, its every move was laid bare several steps in advance.
One lance-arm pierced the air with the sound of a war drum. It was just a simple charge and thrust, but the sheer strength and mass turned it into something on the scale of a thunder-lance, a blow that could shear a castle gate forged of steel. Not only that, the tip gleamed with a swirl of gray Aura.
Pointless if it doesn’t land, though.
Leon hadn’t taken to the skies for nothing. Not only did it draw the monster’s eyes, but it also gave him room to wield full flight speed. The wings of Icarus could outpace wyverns and drakes with ease.
Still, he didn’t let his guard drop. Including the first host, a total of seven royal knights had been devoured into this Hive Walker. If all their martial training and knowledge were assimilated...
Flash-Spear Art, Secret Technique: Thunder-Piercing Thrust.
Leon’s fear came true. The many eyes hounding Leon froze for a split second, and ten arms shot out almost in unison.
This wasn’t a clumsy stab. It was the thrust of a warrior, steeped in an immense amount of force, refined with over a decade of training. Leon’s face hardened as he raised the Holy Sword.
“A mere monster using martial techniques... I will cut you.”
With that, he prepared his first attack.
“Heavenly Core, First Form: Dubhe.”
A vertical torrent of light split the thrust—and the creature—clean in half. Blood erupted in a mist, severed arms scattering across the ground. The hardened tips of those metallic limbs embedded deep into the earth.
Any living thing should have died instantly or at least suffered a mortal wound. However, with a freakish squirming, the bisected flesh reattached. Even though the cut edges had been charred by the heat of Leon’s Aura, regeneration pressed on, unimpeded.
This was a mutated Hive Walker. Born abnormally, it straddled the line between life and undeath. Even the Holy Sword and Sun Aura couldn’t entirely nullify its regenerative force.
“You are one tricky bastard,” Leon muttered.
Even if shattered into pieces, it would recover within seconds. Leon clicked his tongue, gauging its recovery speed, which turned out to be far more annoying than expected.
Thankfully, the Hero wasn’t alone.
Elahan had slipped beneath the Hive Walker, her leg whipping in a fierce roundhouse against one of its limbs.
“Haaap!”
The impact was tremendous. A leg thicker than a temple column snapped in one blow, and the Hive Walker staggered.
Elahan didn’t stop there and hammered away at its remaining legs in sequence. By the time she destroyed the third, the first had already regrown, but she pressed on as if it didn’t matter.
Hits that came with what sounded like explosions came at a speed that outstripped the monster’s regeneration.
At last, with only one leg left, the Hive Walker crashed to the ground. It braced itself with its arms to keep its face from smashing into the earth, but that proved to be a fatal mistake.
“Pitch-Black Dance, Projection, Fifth Form: Collateral Damage.”
From the monster’s immense shadow, countless hands surged up, seizing its body and locking it down. The larger the shadow, the stronger the hold. Even as the Hive Walker thrashed, the bonds didn’t falter.
That was the moment Leon had waited for. Golden flames roared up along his blade.
“Sun Sword, Crimson Lotus, First Form: Prominence.”
Like a pillar of fire erupting from the sun, light and heat swirled around his sword as a vortex, lashing out to engulf the Hive Walker lying dozens of steps away.
“GUWAAAAAAAAAH!”
Perhaps because it was still somewhat alive, pain wracked its body. It writhed so hard the shadow restraints creaked, its flesh crushed by the binding pressure. Yet even that was nothing compared to being consumed by Prominence.
It struggled to break free. Bones snapped and muscles tore, yet it still clawed desperately.
Seeing that, Leon declared, “Too late, monster.”
The flames pouring down from above swallowed it whole, and it burned. It melted.
Heat so fierce it could liquefy steel in seconds devoured flesh, bone, and blood, surging ever higher in intensity. Regeneration, immortality—none of it mattered. A destruction far beyond its regenerative range scoured the Hive Walker’s entire body.
“―――――――!”
Even its vocal cords burned away, leaving only a broken, mangled scream where the Deadly Crying should have been. The three of them watched with cold expressions.
Wiping the sweat from her brow, Karen was the first to speak.
“Mr. Hero, what do you think?”
Leon stared into the flames he had conjured, then slowly shook his head, his brow furrowing.
“Hm... Not good. Even burning it down to the bone and turning it into a charred husk, it just regenerates. We’ll need power strong enough to vaporize it completely without leaving a trace.”
“Relentless thing,” Karen said.
Elahan asked, “Hero Leon, should I use Divine Judgment?”
“Not sure. That thing is neither alive nor dead. Even Holy Law won’t land a finishing blow. To erase it, we’ll need sheer overwhelming force, regardless of affinity.”
It wasn’t impossible. Leon’s Sun Sword alone could do it. If he pushed its power to the limit and amplified it with the power of the Grand Chariot, he could incinerate something that massive in a single strike.
The real problem was the collateral damage that would follow. A strike that strong would devastate not just the manor courtyard, but the surrounding residential blocks as well. After a brief thought, Leon’s eyes gleamed.
“Elahan,” he called. “If you use the Holy Iron Breaker, can you launch that thing high into the sky? I’d like at least thirty meters of clearance.”
“I think I can manage it,” Elahan answered and nodded.
“Good.”
Trusting her power, Leon explained the plan, and Elahan widened her eyes before nodding firmly. A moment later, she broke into a run, restoring the Holy Iron Breaker to its true form.
The golden hammer’s silhouette was unforgettable at first sight. It was far too distinctive to reveal lightly, but the urgency left no choice.
“O Goddess! Grant me the strength to smite this abomination!”
Her ringing voice carried, and a golden radiance poured down from the heavens, empowering her body and spirit severalfold. With the blessing and privilege granted only to a Saintess overflowing, her strength surged from her hands.
“Juuuuudgmeeeeent!”
She leaped beneath the still-burning Hive Walker, driving her knees into the earth. Her whole torso twisted upward, channeling the motion into her shoulders, all to accelerate the Holy Iron Breaker.
“For your siiiins!”
With her full might, Elahan swung. The hammer crashed into the Hive Walker’s scorched abdomen.
It was less a blow than a bombardment. The ground quaked from the impact, and shockwaves shattered glass across the estate. Some thought it was an earthquake and dove flat to the ground.
However, there was only one true victim.
“K-kuugh!”
With a single strike, the Hive Walker was blasted forty meters into the air. The shock was so immense it eclipsed even the burning torment of Prominence.
Suddenly airborne, the Hive Walker flailed, dazed. In the three seconds it had until it would fall, the buoyancy it had never felt before stunned its mind.
At that instant, Leon leveled his sword from below.
Finally, the fourth.
Had he only trained the Grand Chariot to reach the realm of Master, he might have mastered all seven forms. However, Leon had forged the Sun Sword instead to break through the wall.
In Eastern terms, it was a battle between external and internal arts. He had broken through with the internal way.
That doesn’t mean I neglect the sword.
Even a simple coin was two-sided. Martial training has no separation between its two sides, the inner and outer.
Amassing power demands knowing how to wield it. Through tireless practice, Leon had now perfected the fourth stroke of the Grand Chariot—and even grasped its chained fourfold strike.
Now was the moment to prove it. Aiming at the Hive Walker suspended in the sky, Leon unleashed his ultimate technique.
“Wavering Light, Seventh Form, Deep Application, Piercing Moon: Alkaid.”
From his sword erupted a sword flash, soaring skyward like a beam of light, as though to pierce the night sky. Then, like a thunderbolt inverted, it speared down and struck true, right through the Hive Walker’s gut.