Chapter 58: If There is a God (1)
Chapter 58: If There is a God (1)
“A Demon…?”
The first who fell to their knees at the sight was Windhand.
No wind or wave could bring this man down, but Demons were another matter. Their mere presence terrified him.
Those moments of despair and madness from forty years ago engulfed his mind.
“Why? Why again?”
He wasn't alone.
One of the more experienced sailors grabbed his head at those words, words which represented almost everyone’s feelings.
However, a single sentence drowned out Windhand’s screams.
“Speed up the ship.”
One person spoke confidently in this silence.
“Right now!”
Windhand looked to where that voice came from as if possessed.
“So that I can kill those scum bastards!”
His uncovered gray eye was full of undulating madness, murderous intent, hatred, and twisted joy.
Destruction personified.
* * *
I didn’t really know what it was, but it was definitely a Demon. As such, there was only one thing I could do.
「Jacrati: Ramchaban Pier」
「❖ Fangs Aimed at Jacrati
∎ Go to Jacrati
∎ Destroy the base of Vipurit’s gang
∎ Demons eliminated: 0 / ??」
Slay those damn Demons.
“I will kill every last one of them.”
Immersing myself in my roleplay, I muttered while coldly looking toward the city. The most urgent thing to take care of was likely the Patchwork Golem we saw near the castle.
The port closest to the castle wasn’t in a normal state either, so it seemed we would have to clean that place up first before moving on. At the dock, Demons and people were locked in a fierce battle.
「Zombie │ Unfortunate people parasitized by parasitic Demons. They have lost any sense of self and are being controlled by the Demon.」
The dim-eyed Zombies were fewer in number than the people, but that didn’t mean they were at a disadvantage.
“Vipurit bastards!”
Humans wearing symbolic red clothing attacked people at the port alongside the Zombies.
I wondered why they weren’t getting attacked by the Zombies, but I roughly understood that they were probably Demon Contractors.
“The ship, now…!”
I broke apart a barrel rolling around the ship, then picked up one of the boards and threw it into the ocean.
Crack!
I jumped effortlessly, crushing the railing. Splash. The plank I had thrown became my stepping stone.
“Victory to my sword.”
Like that, I managed to reach the dock.
“Who’s that bastard!”
Those wearing red clothes shouted and ran at me.
Uwoargh!
Several Zombies chasing people attempting to escape by boat gathered around me.
Their mouths were covered in blood and flesh, and they held axes and harpoons in their hands.
Jingle, jingle. The sound of the earrings dangling from their ears was particularly annoying.
“Glory to the heavens…!”
But so what if they had weapons? I was faster.
Thud. I took one step forward on the wooden dock and swung around my Zweihänder on the second. The pitch-black horizontal [Slash] I sent out mercilessly cut down those things that had once been regular people.
Blood splashed out and soaked the dock red. Their split bodies collapsed to both sides and fell into the sea.
“Wh-What!”
That tremendous attack caught the attention of both the living and the egoless Zombies.
Uwaaaaargh!!
Some of the Zombies that had climbed into the boats and were chasing around the people within, and those fighting against people on land, all came toward me.
I was very grateful for that. If they crowded together, killing them in one go would be much easier.
Tak, tak, tak, tak.
I ran across the wooden planks without hesitation and began gently swinging my sword in all directions.
It wasn’t long before my Zweihänder was stained with sticky blood.
“K-Kill him!”
“Where the fuck did that guy come from?!”
“What are those guys patrolling the sea doing?!”
However, there weren’t only Zombies. After cutting down all the Zombies that had come at me, I gripped my sword tighter as I faced those people before me.
“Shit, kill him!”
I could see others desperately fighting them while trying to defend the docks.
“What a waste of life.”
Soon, pitch-black energy spread from my sword, cutting down the group clad in red.
Swish!
“Hey.”
Then, someone spoke up from behind me. He wore a triangular hat and had long ears.
“Leave this place to us and go to the castle.”
I first checked over the people guarding the docks, then counted the remaining enemies before Windhand’s face entered my view.
“Go and save the Lord.”
He emitted the desperation of someone unable to abandon hope, even in despair.
“I beg of you, please save her.”
…I wondered what kind of relationship the privateer captain had with the Lord of this city to be so desperate. However, I was confident this city wouldn’t collapse while I was here.
I stuck my hand into my inventory, drawing out the questions in my mind.
Throw!
“This is…”
What I threw toward Windhand was a Demonic Energy Neutralizer.
Since I had no use for it, I only brought one of the five bottles I had received in Tatara… What was even the point of me having it? I almost hadn’t brought it with me because it only took up inventory space.
“A neutralizer?”
I wasn’t sure whether it even prevented the infection caused by those things’ bites. Still, if one got scratched or hit by their weapons, I was certain the Demonic Energy would erode them.
With this, at least ten people could be saved. It would be better than nothing.
“Why did you…”
Why, why? I gave it to you to drink.
I swallowed those words and started running, following Windhand’s request.
The Zombies and Vipurit’s men were clearly targeting me, but our difference in speed was simply too substantial. I outran them with ease.
The only problem was that the castle was located at the island’s highest point, so the path got steeper the further I went.
「A hostile existence has entered a radius of 30m.」
Baaam!
At that moment, a strange monster came crashing down on the spot I passed not too long ago.
The roof, which wasn’t all that sturdy, gave off some ominous sounds as if about to collapse. As for why I was on a roof, I was too lazy to follow those twisting paths, so I just decided to do some parkour.
「 Gargoyle │ A Demon that flies through the night sky and has flames burning inside of its body. It occasionally hides itself by hanging on walls with its hooked wings.」
Suddenly, a bat-like monster larger than me raised its head to look at me.
Even if I hadn’t read its description of carrying flames within itself, I knew it could spew fire just from looking at its belly. A red glow shone through its thin stomach skin, making it look like a paper lantern.
Rumble, rumble.
It even seemed to be preparing to shoot out fire, as well. However, these were signs I couldn’t simply ignore.
Fwooooosh!
As expected, that thing began spewing fire. I jumped to the side at just the right time, moving in a near semicircle to avoid its flames—the thing turned its head, the flames naturally moving with it.
“You’re in the way…”
At that moment, the Gargoyle seemed to reach the end of its lung capacity, forcing it to close its mouth. I made a half-turn, my path somewhat resembling an oval, and almost managed to take the Gargoyle’s back.
“No!”
Craaaack.
The roof I was standing on finally shattered into several pieces of wood as it bent beneath my feet.
Swish!
I cut off the Gargoyle’s tail by swinging my sword like a baseball bat. I was actually trying to slice through its torso, but seemingly sensing its life was in danger, it attempted to fly away, causing my attack to miss its intended target.
Kyaaak, kyak!
However, one didn’t necessarily need to remove a flying creature’s wings to prevent it from flying. The Gargoyle, trying to take to the air, immediately lost balance and stumbled.
I naturally didn’t waste that opportunity.
Craaack!
The roof let out some sounds again as I jumped up and stepped on the Gargoyle. Stab! The Zweihänder I held in reverse grip pierced through the thing’s neck. After I changed my grip again and spun around, half of its neck got torn out.
「A hostile existence has entered a radius of 30m.」
However, it wasn’t the only enemy. I stepped on the body of the thing about to pounce at me.
Bang!
A loud boom echoed out as my body started floating in the sky. My next target was another Gargoyle readying to approach me.
Kyaaargh!
The Gargoyle, not expecting its prey to fly toward it, twisted its body to avoid me. Nevertheless, I swung my blade just as I had planned. The Zweihänder, which I had lowered, cleanly cut off the Gargoyle’s head.
Craaaash!
Its corpse crashed into a roof below, which seemed to be too fragile and crudely made to support the large body’s weight.
Thud. I landed next to that Gargoyle. Dust, wood splinters, and the Gargoyle’s head fell through the collapsed roof.
“Th-Th-This…”
I straightened my knees and waist that bent as I landed and patted the dust off my shoulder with my right hand. The owner of the house, who had been lucky enough not to get crushed, stared at me in utter shock.
It wasn’t like I wanted this to happen.
I tried to ignore the house owner, opened the front door—by kicking it open—right next to me, and left.
I hoped this person would evacuate to a safer place.
Kyaargh.
By the way, the Gargoyle whose head I had torn off earlier was stuck in an alley between the houses and struggling to get free.
Slash!
I finished it off with my sword.
Now then, I should keep going. I continued down the path, forgetting this brief interruption. Soon, something like the castle appeared before me, from which a booming sound could be heard.
* * *
* * *
“Tsk.”
Wasn’t that castle a bit too high up? It was really inconvenient to get to.
I ran toward the castle as I mentally complained. The iron bar door was closed, but that didn’t matter. All I had to do was cut it apart or break it.
Uwaaaah.
Unfortunately, I couldn’t do that right away due to the Zombies before the castle gates.
I considered just launching a [Slash] but stopped soon after; I could see some people through the iron bars’ gaps.
What if the [Slash] passed through the iron bars and reached them… I didn’t even want to imagine what would happen after.
Guwah?
I immediately rushed forward. I didn’t bother muting the sound of my footsteps, so several Zombies turned to look at me. It was already too late, though.
[Ground Crash]. I jumped up and crashed down against the ground. My sword, which descended with me with tremendous force, spread out my Arcane Power spherically.
As the black storm raged fiercely in all directions, the Zombies’ bodies were flung around. They were subsequently covered in a myriad of wounds as if a sword had assaulted them.
However, some were still left. I swung my sword all around, slicing, dicing, and cutting down all the remaining ones.
“B-Behind you!”
Then, someone beyond the iron bars shouted at me. In the next moment, I crushed the head of the Zombie that was trying to bite my ankle from behind.
I had already known it was there, but it still felt quite surprising that one of the people was courageous enough to call out to me like that.
Swish.
I swung my Zweihänder to shake the blood off of it. It seemed that someone on the other side of the gate shouted something like, ‘Open the gate!’
“We have to leave now!”
“Uwaargh!”
What should I say? Rather than opening the door to let me in, they seemed to be taking the opportunity to flee now that the Zombies were gone.
I looked at them as I slowly approached the gate.
“Hurry up and raise the gate!”
And when I was almost at the gate, it began gradually rising.
“Run now!”
“Don’t push!”
“Uwaaargh!”
Although I couldn’t even get in yet, I could hear the people inside acting pretty impatient. When the gate was about half-open, I slipped through by lowering my upper body.
While they appeared to believe their immediate safety was secure because the Zombies outside had disappeared from the castle gates, I felt they were acting far too hastily.
“Run out quickly!”
Or perhaps their situation had become so dire that it was better to jump into the unknown than stay there.
I went through the now fully open gates. I passed through a crowd of hundreds but didn’t really get pushed back.
“Kuwaaargh!”
“St-Stop!”
“Uwaaargh!”
And then I saw it: the Patchwork Golem crawling through spaces in the walls and turning soldiers into bloody messes, Zombies climbing through the holes made by the Patchwork Golem and biting people, and Gargoyles flying around the vicinity, spewing fire.
“Wahaha, kill them all!”
“Cut them all down!”
And then there was the Vipurit gang amid those monsters, massacring everyone.
“Save me!”
Ah, this reminded me somewhat of those insanely packed subway lines in the morning. There were so many people. I created some space for myself to get through by pushing some of them away.
I felt sorry for those I pushed, but that didn’t mean I wanted to get trampled. Meanwhile, I saw tons of soldiers dying.
Bam!
“Urgh!”
“Waargh!”
I stamped my foot on the ground so hard that it shook. People around me screamed as my body soared into the air.
Crack!
However, using this momentum to only float through the air was a waste. I stepped on a Gargoyle that was flying around, preying on people.
I then fell on its back, wrapping an arm around its neck. In wrestling terms, I performed what could be called a headlock or chin lock.
However, I wasn’t just trying to choke it but sever its head from its body.
Choke!
The flames surging from the thing’s mouth soon died out. It must have begun suffocating when I forcibly turned its head to stop the flame from hitting the people.
Kyaaaargh!
That bastard tried flying to one side, trying to turn its head this way or that. It was rather unstable due to my added weight, but it still didn’t fall.
The direction we were heading in was fairly empty of people, as well, fortunately for me.
I quickly removed my left arm from it and took out a dagger. Stab! I stabbed the dagger wrapped in my Arcane Power into the thing’s eyes and slashed across its forehead.
As a bonus, I managed to crack open its skull and crush the brain inside.
Kyaaaargh!
Its wings stopped moving, and we began to fall.
Once I felt us sinking, I relaxed my arms and strengthened my legs. The Gargoyle crushed beneath my feet completely fell to the floor while I flew through the air once again.
Bam!
Kyag!
My next destination was another Gargoyle. More precisely, I didn’t step on its body but simply grabbed one of its wings.
Still praising myself for my incredible aerial coordination, I tore through that thing’s flesh with my dagger before jumping down.
The Gargoyle, its wings torn off, was flung against the castle’s outer walls. What happened to me was similar, but my situation was much different as I only stepped on the wall before leaping back up.
Swish!
Finally, I threw the dagger at the Gargoyle closest to me. It didn’t hit my target right between the eyes, but as long as it hit the space between the chin and the neck, the damage it received shouldn’t have been minor.
It also went crashing.
Bang!
At that moment, my aerial hunting was over. My body fell toward the ground, creating a small crater.
Perhaps because I boosted my Arcane Power during the fall, my HP had taken quite the hit.
Groaaan!
It was then I saw Zombies and Vipurit’s men coming toward me. At first, they were chasing after the soldiers and trying to kill those escaping, but when I fell close by, they changed their target to me.
However, that was only advantageous for me. Better they ran at me than target those defenseless people!
I wiped the floor with those who came attacking and rushed toward the Golem.
Uwoaaaah!
“Uwargh!”
I then grabbed one fleeing soldier who was running away and the Zombie trying to bite him by the neck. It fell flat to the floor after I threw it away as hard as I could.
Slash! What followed was my blade cutting through its throat.
“U-Urgh.”
The guy I had just saved ran away quickly. I didn’t really expect him to thank me; I just hoped he successfully managed to run away and survive.
“I-I can’t hold on anymore…”
“Please, save me…!”
I quickly reviewed the situation. The walls had collapsed, Zombies and Vipurit’s men had come over here, and the soldiers’ camp had almost completely collapsed.
Although they tried to hold on, the battle line kept getting pushed back to avoid the approaching Golem, not to mention those Gargoyles attacking from the sky and the cowardly men of Vipurit.
“Uwargh!”
The Zombies, albeit weak individually but both fast and numerous, also posed quite a problem.
Whenever they bit someone, that person would die and rise again as an enemy. I had to deal with that urgently.
Swish!
But the humans could still fight off the Zombies, or so it seemed.
After helping people on the way, I aimed for the Patchwork Golem first.
People would inevitably get sacrificed during that time. I had no choice but to trust them to hold on somehow.
“Out of the way.”
I ran forward, chopping up Zombies. As time went on, the Golem’s size, which had initially seemed quite small from my perspective, became much larger.
It appeared to be about four meters in height. It wasn’t only tall but also quite wide, making it seem even bigger.
Considering it was made from stitched-together human body parts, it looked extremely disgusting and gave off a strong odor.
If they put a monster like that into a manhwa, it would immediately be rated 18+.
“Uwargh!”
“Wahaha, die—?!”
I kicked away a Zombie that had been accidentally struck by the Golem’s fist and grabbed a member of Vipurit’s gang, who was trying to attack a young soldier, by the back of the neck.
Crunch.
I crushed his neck with my gauntlet-clad hand and threw him to the floor.
“H-Huh…?
“Run away.”
It seemed to be slowly getting into my range.
I gripped my Zweihänder tightly.
“If you don’t want to get cut down together with that thing!”
Whether or not he heard my words, the guy was already scampering behind me to avoid the Golem. There was nothing but enemies in front of me, after all.
I stood within this collapsed camp and swung my sword.
Slash!
Soon, the monster, said to require hundreds of people’s lives to kill, silently fell into a river of its own blood.
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