Chapter 190: Karelvo the grotesque demon (1)
The grotesque dragon with one eye shaped like Karelvo’s face roared and charged towards me as though it had singled me out. Without exchanging a word, we scattered. I leaped backward to draw its attention, while Tigar veered to the right and Gora dodged to the left.
With her wings outstretched, Farl soared upward and maneuvered above the grotesque dragon’s head. Then she swiftly released an arrow right behind his head. The arrow’s piecing power had been enhanced through spiritual power, but the scales covering the monster’s back looked quite resilient, and the arrow was repelled.
It seemed that Farl had anticipated this outcome, as she promptly released the next arrow. Her target was Karelvo’s face. The arrow flew straight toward Karelvo’s head… but it seemed that his face was as strong as his scales. Her arrow failed to pierce through and was easily bounced off.
“Boss! My powers won’t cut it!” Farl said.
“No need to push yourself. While we’re fighting, try to find a softer spot.”
“I’ll give it a shot!”
Even if we couldn’t pierce the scales, since it was a living creature, there had to be some soft spot somewhere. This held true even for someone like me who had confidence in my defensive abilities. My exoskeleton boasted incredible protection compared to mere armor, but there were areas, such as the joints, that remained uncovered.
Of course, my entire body was strengthened with fighting spirit, so half-baked attacks wouldn’t be able to pierce through even the joints. However, when compared to my exoskeleton, the strength of my joints was akin to the contrast between metal and wood. There had to be relatively weaker areas. It wouldn’t be too late for Farl to join us in the attack once she pinpointed those spots.
The grotesque dragon seemed to have me as its sole focus, directing multiple arms and even its dragon head’s bites solely at me. It was pleasant to see it charge at me, crushing everything in its path with its huge body, taking no account of the surrounding buildings.
“Get cut and die! Grrrrrrrrrrrrr!”
“Your flank’s wide open! Ugooooooh!”
“Gyaaaargh!? Guuuuuaaaargh!”
That’s because the monster completely neglected to be wary of its left and right sides. Tigar’s greatsword, which was clad in lightning, and Gora’s giant axe, propelled by a high leap, were brought down from both sides in a pincer move. These two heavy weapons crushed the robust scales and deeply gouged the flesh inside.
It seemed that even the strong dragon scales could not deflect the blows of the two men who had the highest attacking power among the special operations unit members. The grotesque dragon, perhaps in pain, roared in agony and wildly swung its countless arms to drive Tigar and Gora away. Tigar managed to defend himself with his sword as a shield, but Gora took a direct hit and crashed into a nearby building before smashing through its walls.
“Are you not dead yet, Gora!?”
“Hmph! I’m perfectly fine!”
When Tigar, who had taken a defensive stance, shouted that question, Gora pushed aside the debris from the collapsed building he had crashed into and returned to the front lines. There was some blood on his nose, and it appeared that he had other minor wounds, but his healing abilities as a demon had already almost completely closed them.
In the meantime, I hadn’t been idle. I was preparing for the battle while stepping back. Specifically, I was creating a large amount of sand, compressing it, and shaping it into the form of pincers.
With my preparations for an all-out attack complete, I suddenly went on the offensive. I used my sand pincers to cut through two of the monster’s arms while leaping into the fray and slashing at its abdomen with my twin swords. The body hair protecting the abdomen was as tough as wire, but it proved powerless against the sharpness of my twin swords.
“Gyaaaaaah! Giooooo!”
“””Grrrrrrr!”””
“What!?”
Blood spurted from the severed arms and the gash on the abdomen, and the grotesque dragon let out another scream. However, things didn’t end there. From the severed arms, new ones sprouted as they returned to their original state. As for the wound on the abdomen, it swelled, and before we knew it, it had transformed into the head of a beast, which lunged at me!
Even though I didn’t think that this thing’s bite could shatter my exoskeleton, I instinctively leaped backward. The clashing teeth created a sharp noise in the air. What’s more, it seemed that the biting force was too intense, as the teeth shattered.
To think that the beast would exert so much force that it would shatter its own teeth… I knew that this monster had been in a state of rampage from the beginning, but it now seemed to unleash enough power to harm its own body. This thing wouldn’t stop until it was dead. That much was certain.
“Ugh, this is creepy!”
“What the hell is going on!?”
“Watch out!”
The parts of the dragon’s scales that Tigar and Gora had injured had also transformed into the heads of wild beasts. While they were safe from being bitten since they were at a distance, the sight of new heads forming on the dragon’s body was eerie, and it left them equally bewildered.
However, Farl remained unfazed and loosed another arrow. Her target this time was one of the newly formed heads. Her accurately aimed shot pierced into the beast’s mouth, causing it to bleed…. yet the mouth was busy crunching on the arrow while still oozing blood.
“This is just a complete waste of arrows!”
“Truly…no, that’s actually not the case…”
Farl appeared frustrated, but I kicked a shard of debris that had fallen at my feet toward the head. Although the shard veered slightly off course from the head, the head purposefully moved to chase after it and bit down.
Its teeth, which it had broken on its own, had already regenerated and were grinding away at the shard. I didn’t realize it because of its appearance, which could only be described as a grotesque dragon, but with Karelvo in the mix, this one was probably a demon as well. However, I absolutely didn’t want to consider such a monstrosity as a fellow demon.
“As I suspected, it seems the beast heads indiscriminately bite at anything that comes close. If a new mouth is formed, just throw something its way to seal it.”
When the arrow entered its mouth, that beast’s mouth clearly chose to chew the inedible object rather than spit it out. I originally thought that it had no other choice but to do so due to the arrow being deeply lodged in.
My assumption appeared to be correct, as it also reacted to the debris, clamping down on it tightly. When Tigar and the others hurled parts of the collapsed building at the mouths that had appeared on the injured areas of the monster, the formed mouths reacted in the same manner.
It seemed that by throwing decoys at the newly formed heads, we could incapacitate them until they could chew them completely. If we adhered to this strategy consistently, we could potentially reduce the danger, at least to some extent.
“Goggyaggyagoo!!!”
Karelvo, now transformed into a grotesque demon, roared as he swung his arms. It seemed he wasn’t just as focused on me as he was at the beginning. While his arm movements were still somewhat clumsy, it was clear that he was also targeting Tigar and the others.
Moreover, I felt a hint of frustration in his last roar. He might be able to maintain his rationality, albeit only to a limited extent. However, the killing intent emitted from Karelvo did not weaken in the slightest.
In fact, the killing intent he radiated only grew stronger. His frustration likely stemmed from his inability to overpower us, who were significantly smaller compared to him. A big guy with a short temper… there was no way to reason with him.
“I’m sorry, but I can’t let you kill us. If you’d be willing to let us go at this point, we wouldn’t need to continue this fight to the end…”
“Gruooooooooh!!”
“…It seems like he won’t let us go. If you’re still after us, we’ll have to finish you off right here.”
“Gugagaaa!!”
Karelvo, still consumed by his rising killing intent, began to swing his arms even more violently. The cityscape of the largest country on the Enzo continent had been reduced to rubble thanks to Karelvo. An entire section of the city lay in ruins, turning into a desolate wasteland of piled debris.
We sliced, parried, and dodged Karelvo’s wildly swinging arms while adapting to his attacks. His blows carried a powerful force, enough to leave me severely injured if they connected directly.
However, we had navigated through countless battles and survived many fierce encounters. Backed by our extensive combat experience, we were not easily intimidated by his monotonous, sweeping attacks. We kept countering with precise strikes.
“Gah! Ah, damn it! It heals so quickly! Are our attacks even effective!?”
“I can’t say for sure!”
However, as Tigar just said, our counterattacks didn’t seem to have a significant impact. Even if we severed his arms, new ones sprouted instantly, and injuring his torso only led to the growth of new beastly heads. His strength and ferocity showed no signs of diminishing.
My poison appeared to be ineffective as well, and it seemed that a decisive blow was necessary to inflict a fatal wound. Yet, I wasn’t adept at delivering single, powerful blows like Master. This was a drawback of the twin swords, which prioritized speed and dexterity.
To compensate for that, I had my spiritual arts at my disposal. I couldn’t be certain if they could deliver an instant death attack, but I was confident that my spiritual arts could at least inflict a fatal blow. For that, I needed to enhance my spiritual power to its maximum… What’s this?
“Have all three of you noticed something?”
“Yeah, there’s something getting closer, isn’t there?”
“Farl! Can you see it?”
“Imperial soldiers! I’ve seen them before! They’re part of the aerial combat unit!”
As I powered up my spiritual energy in preparation for a devastating strike, I sensed an approaching presence from behind us. Even with the massive and rage-filled Karelvo in front of us, we remained vigilant of our surroundings. It was the kind of vigilance unique to a demon who could be attacked by allies and enemies alike.
And the ones who had arrived seemed to be familiar to Farl. The Imperial aerial combat unit was composed of elite spiritualists who used flight-based spiritual arts for their attacks. There seemed to be a certain number on both the Imperial Capital and Remus’s sides, and I caught glimpses of them exchanging spiritual arts in mid-air as they descended.
Why did such an elite force come to such a place? There could only be one reason for that: to subdue the monster, Karelvo, that suddenly appeared in the Imperial capital.
“Surround it!”
As I had anticipated, the aerial combat unit had initiated their actions to subdue Karelvo. They maintained an altitude beyond Karelvo’s reach, all the while beginning to enhance their spiritual power.
Despite maintaining their flight, the time it took for them to construct their spiritual arts was remarkably short. One could definitely say they were a true elite unit, but I didn’t have the luxury to be impressed. That was because the aerial combat unit’s spiritual arts hadn’t taken us into account.
“This is bad!”
“Run!”
“Gogyaaaah!”
The aerial combat unit’s fiery spiritual arts rained down on Karelovo. Karelvo and everything around him were consumed by flames, and the explosion scattered a burnt, smoky odor along with blood, flesh, and debris in the air.
We were caught in the midst of it, but all four of us emerged unharmed. Farl, who had remained in the sky from the start, was naturally safe, while Tigar and Gora shielded themselves behind the sand pincers I had created. The two of them might have suffered minor burns, but they were nothing more than superficial injuries.
As for me, I remained entirely unscathed. Thanks to Georg’s rigorous training, this level of heat couldn’t even scorch my exoskeleton. The spiritual arts of someone who wasn’t a descendant of the gods held no power over me.
“Gugooooh….Gugyagoooooh…”
The one enduring the greatest suffering was undoubtedly Karelvo, who continued to be bathed in those spiritual arts. The shockwave from the explosion had caused parts of his scales to blister, and the fur on his belly had turned into fuel for the flames, roasting his own body. Karelvo’s face contorted in agony, and smoke, blood, and soot spewed from his dragon’s mouth.
When I first saw this sight, I assumed that the flames had reached deep into Karelvo’s internal organs. However, as I watched the sparks mix with the blood that he spewed from his mouth and saw the blood itself aflame, I realized I had been mistaken. At the same time, I shouted,
“Everyone, get down!”
“Grororororoaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!!”
In the next instant, a searing crimson flash burst forth from Karelvo’s mouth. The shockwave from its release sent me hurtling backward.
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