156 – Taming a Madman (16)
Bibi’s mouth opened without realizing it. She testified that when she cut off the head of a demonic beast in a cave alone, there was a flash of light and everything was over.
The light came from Damian’s hand. The light was so strong that the entire area was instantly illuminated as if lightning had struck.
I can’t feel magic, divine power, anything. And then the harsh sound of the explosion arrived late, and shock waves shook the entire area.
“… !”
Has he not shown his full potential until now? Did she really decide that she had a chance of winning and decided to stay? Vivi desperately hoped that was true.
Bibi’s eyes did not leave where Damien was.
***
A black day with the sun completely gone. The acrid smoke of burning trees.
And the water dripping from the body of the Hwansu was filled with the smell of a rotting corpse.
Finally, the phantom beast that came before his eyes raised its head high and showed off its fangs, showing off its intimidation. It seemed like if it got hit by the fangs, it wouldn’t be able to preserve the body, let alone survive.
A black haze constantly rose from the body of the phantom beast.
Damian slowly explored the other person.
Large animals eat a huge amount of food to maintain their size. How many humans did that thing swallow before it grew so big?
Hwansoo showed interest in other targets than Damian. Her eyes were fixed on the baboon riding away on her deer.
“Gainax… Gainax….”
The corpses constantly crawling out of the ground muttered Vivi’s name. It was as if he was speaking on behalf of Hwansu’s mouth.
But because Damien was standing in front of her, she was unable to move forward willingly.
Damian thought.
What is the reason why they covet Bibi and the blood of that goddess? For what purpose are the wizard’s souls imprisoned?
It was frustrating because they didn’t seem like people I could communicate with.
Damian didn’t wait any longer and swung his sword in the air. In an instant, an intense light erupted and waves of sword waves rushed towards the Hwansu.
Geompa completely exploded the snake’s head.
Quang!
Shattered flesh splattered everywhere along with blood.
Damian still remained tense. This is because even though Hwansu’s head was blown off, his body was still upright.
The water of the black lake behind Hwansu begins to overflow. It gradually swirled, climbed up the phantom beast’s body, and began to condense.
And the head began to regenerate.
Damian bit his lip. If the opponent’s ability was regenerative, Damian was at a disadvantage. This is because he was only allowed a very short time to summon the sword.
As expected, this was not an opponent that would end well.
The moving remains began to surround Damian.
Because we had to focus all our efforts on the phantom beast, we did not deal with the skeletons.
But it was too nerve-wracking to leave it alone.
As the group chanted Vivi’s name, she occasionally muttered words from when she was once human.
“When will mom come?”
“I have a book that I haven’t finished.”
“I left behind my old and sick mother.”
They were all souls who could not leave Barbisia and became slaves to phantom beasts.
Damian kicked away the skeletons holding his body and fired the sword wave at the phantom beast again.
With a loud explosion sound, the Hwansu’s body was torn in two. And the water from the lake was drawn back in and began to repair the body of the Hwansu.
The guy recovered faster than before and plunged into a swamp as if diving.
“…Damn.”
The Hwansu began to swim in the swamp like a loach. Because he was out of sight, it was difficult to predict when and where he would make a surprise attack, and he could not land a direct hit.
As he was organizing the skeletons, he focused on the vibration of the floor.
Then, without any time to react, a tail suddenly came out of the swamp and hit Damian squarely. His body floated up and plummeted twenty steps away.
And when Damian got up, a huge snake’s snout came out from under his feet and tried to swallow him whole. He twisted his whole body, pulled his body to the side, and immediately swung his sword and cut off his head.
This time, as expected, the water from the lake was sucked in and the body recovered in an instant.
Before the restoration was even completed, another unpredictable attack was made using his long body, and Damian was left helpless.
The strategy was unclear.
Damian spat out blood-mixed spit and hurriedly moved to a place with solid ground, then put his ears to the ground and focused on the sound of the phantom beast moving.
And he heard a strange noise there.
[aaa!!]
It was not the sound of a snake moving, but the sound of a man screaming out of nowhere. Was I mistaken because it was an urgent situation? When I put my ear to my ear again, I heard the same sound.
There were endless screams, as if a person was burning alive.
He couldn’t understand how such a tremor could spread through the ground.
And then came the merciless surprise attack of Hwansu. Damian reacted quickly and fired a sword wave at the Hwansoo’s upper body, shattering it into pieces.
Damian sensed something strange and started running straight to the black lake.
Then the skeletons’ movements became faster and more agile and tried to grab Damian.
The surprise attack period of phantom beasts popping out from under the ground has also drastically shortened.
A snake’s tail popped out like a trap at Damian’s feet as he ran and hit Damian like it was a club.
After being hit, Damian flew to the side and returned to the starting point. He took all the Frostwind bombs out of his pocket and detonated them in a straight line.
The bomb caused a series of explosions, freezing the road to the lake as solid as a rock. Damian immediately started running over it.
Hwansu came to the ground and tried to break the frozen road. However, because he had to make a big move, he had no choice but to take a direct hit from Damian’s sword wave.
He repeated killing the Hwansu several times and finally reached his destination. And when he reached the lake, he immediately dived into it without hesitation.
As he immersed himself in it, he could hear the man’s screams more clearly. As expected, it was just as Damian expected.
Strange things pass before my eyes. There were countless ghosts swimming in the lake. It was as if the lake itself was a concentrated liquid of the soul.
Dozens of jars were placed at the bottom of the lake. And the scream was coming from the jar.
Something is holding Damian back. It was the work of a living skeleton.
As I saw the resistance growing stronger, I could sense that the soul contained in that jar was important. Damian immediately threw a sword attack.
With a powerful shock wave, the bottom of the lake began to be completely devastated.
And Damian was swept out of the lake along with the skeletons.
“Kwaaak!”
On the ground, Hwansu was screaming and twisting his body. And a chunk of black soul was coming out of the guy’s body and evaporating into the sky.
I didn’t even know that this guy was constantly regenerating his body by consuming his soul.
Damien stroked her hair once and took a deep breath.
And finally, he threw a sword wave and exploded the center of the phantom beast’s body.
Flesh and bones are broken into pieces and splattered in all directions. And the guy struggled with his body, which had been cut in two, and eventually calmed down.
It’s over.
With the death of the Hwansu, the living skeletons returned to meaningless bone fragments.
Damian pulled his body completely out of the water and sat down on the ground.
Then I muttered to myself.
“I won’t be able to eat snake meat from now on.”
***
The dark sky gradually began to clear. It was a clear, blue sky, like something you would see at a resort in the principality. A refreshing breeze. And I heard birds singing from somewhere.
Have we crossed through a dimensional gate? The ominous energy that had covered this land had disappeared.
Vivi, who was hiding her body under a rock, looked up at the sky and felt that everything was over.
And at the same time, Damian, whom I had left alone, suddenly came to mind.
“Damian, Damian!”
The green deer also seemed to understand Vivi’s words and walked in front of her and bowed down to her. The baboon quickly jumped on her back and grabbed her horns.
The deer began running at high speed towards the lake where Damian was.
She held on tightly to her newly woven rope and begged and prayed to the point where she wondered if she had ever been so desperate.
“Please…” Please….”
I hope the man is safe.
The black lakeside that I saw the other day was in disarray, as if something had happened. All nearby trees were swept away, and the ground was hollowed out.
Dozens of human remains were scattered around as if they had been eaten by animals.
And, the corpse of the basilisk was stretched out, blocking the road like a wall. The fight is over.
When I saw the scene of the cruel battle, I felt like my heart sank.
The deer slowly moved around the road. Vivi bit her lip and looked around her, and as she was in a hurry, she got off the deer’s back.
“Damian, Damian!”
She forgot all about her dignity and screamed in a hurry as if she was looking for her family.
She then went in front of the giant snake’s snout and pushed as hard as she could, but it wouldn’t budge.
“If it’s still alive in the stomach…” !”
To find him, he could even crawl into the basilisk’s stomach.
Then the green deer ran somewhere ahead of the baboon, as if it had discovered something about her.
A human shape was seen beyond the direction the deer was moving. Someone was sitting with his back against a tree stump that had had its top torn off.
Bibi hurriedly approached him.
I thought he might have died, but fortunately he was still breathing. All sorts of rotten things vibrated from his body, but she didn’t care.
Vivi hurriedly squatted down in front of him and wiped the stains off her face. And Damian slowly opened his eyes, as if he had woken up from a sweet sleep.
When she saw that, she burst out laughing. And she shed tears without realizing it.
“You… “You are the bravest knight I have ever met in my life.”
He blinked slowly and spoke as if he was sleepy.
“Isn’t it good weather for a picnic?”
Bibi examined every inch of Damien’s body. Although there were some visible wounds, her limbs were intact.
When Damian said something nonsense, Vivi smiled in relief.
“… Okay. “It’s as clear as can be.”
“Now that everything is over, I want to rest by the quiet and clean lakeside.”
“It’s a good idea. If you go back to the principality… “Let’s do this together.”
“I also smoke a mat.”
“I won’t say anything if you use the silk carpet from the palace. “If that doesn’t work, I will prepare it by cutting up my dress.”
“There should also be San Crotis-style apple pie.”
“That’s what I like too.”
“…That’s the only thing the princess and I have in common.”
“I’ve already found several things in common, but it’s a pity that you’re now looking for one.”
Then, Vivi pulled Damien’s left hand and began to weave the rope.
When she saw this, she said to Damien with a puzzled look.
“Isn’t it all over now?”
Now that the cause of the hallucinations had been eliminated, there was no need to tie her up anymore.
“…… “You are anxious because you don’t know where you will end up.”
“Where can I go in this condition?”
“You never know. Just in my eyes… “Stay within reach.”
When he gave her a look that said she didn’t understand, Vivi secretly avoided his gaze with her embarrassed face. Then she carefully tied the other string around her own wrist.
She caught the phantom beast, but it didn’t end there. Because the territory of Barbisia was extremely large, Damian and Vivi had to drift for three more days.
And on the third day, when contact with the guards was lost, he was discovered by a search party from the principality dispatched in large numbers and finally headed to the principality.
Nice.