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Chapter 191: Karelvo the grotesque demon (2)

Chapter 191: Karelvo the grotesque demon (2)

Karelvo had become a demon, and it was clear from his physical characteristics that he had been synthesized with a dragon species. And wasn’t that last attack of his the final trump card used by the Rock Dragon I battled before?

“Pei… Are you fine, all three of you?”

It was the dragon’s breath. The very breath that dragons emit from their mouths, the defining characteristic of their kind, and the reason dragons are feared. Even the breath of a juvenile dragon had the power to shake the spiritual art barrier erected by numerous spiritualists in the arena. Even during my weaker days as a scorpion, the heat from a near miss was enough to scorch my exoskeleton.

And now Karelvo, transformed into a gigantic monster, had unleashed it. The power was literally of a different class. The path of the breath was gouged out, leaving a straight, deep trench, and its depths were molten and bubbling. The range was abnormally long, crossing the imperial capital and even piercing through the city walls to reveal the outside world.

The trench seemed to continue beyond the city walls, and even with my vision, I could not discern its full extent. The power might have been equivalent to, or even surpassed, the spiritual arts used by that descendant of the gods.

“Argh! That was a horrible experience…”

“Ouch… Somehow I’m still alive.”

Tigar and Gora, who had used my sand pincers as shields, seemed to have fared well; though they were slightly burned, they were lively. Just as I felt relief, something fell behind me. It was Farl, with most of her feathers scorched black.

She had been in the air and seemed to have avoided a direct hit from Karelvo’s breath, but she could not completely escape the effects of the heat. Her beautiful feathers were burned, and her skin beneath was charred. It was a severe injury, to say the least.

“Aaaah! Farl! Hey, are you okay? Answer me!”

“Ugh…! Don’t shake me so much… You worry too much… Really…”

Her husband Gora turned pale as he rushed to Farl to check if she was alive or dead. She was still alive, although it was clear she was not unharmed. It was likely her quick thinking to amplify her fighting spirit and spiritual power for protection that saved her; without the sturdy body of a demon, she would have surely died. This was clearly proven by the aerial combat unit that had also been in the vicinity.

The aerial combat unit had received the full brunt of Karelvo’s fiery breath. Except for a few who managed to conjure spiritual barriers in time, they had all been completely carbonized and turned into blackened figures. It was impossible to tell their faces or genders, and if it weren’t for the remains of their burned clothes, one might never have known they were once part of an imperial elite unit.

“Uh… uh…”

“W-Water…Water…”

There were survivors among the aerial combat unit, but their condition was beyond saving. Even with their considerable skills as part of an elite force, the power of Karelvo’s breath had been too great. The spiritual barriers had not been enough to prevent severe burns across their bodies.

Furthermore, since they were flying in the sky, they had fallen after being scorched by the breath. Some had suffered less severe burns, but the fall had caused critical internal damage. Even if they were to be treated immediately, they would most certainly not survive.

“Graaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

However, they would not receive the chance to be treated, as Karelvo’s hand crushed them without mercy. Incapacitated and unable to resist, they were reduced to mere stains on the ground. It was truly a tragic end for the elite troops of the empire.

After destroying the aerial combat unit, Karelvo roared into the sky, a plume of smoke escaping his mouth. The tone of his roar was no longer one of anger or irritation but was unmistakably filled with delight. The rampaging Karelvo seemed to find joy in crushing the insignificant and tormenting the weak.

“Such sadistic cruelty is vulgar, you know… Has your true nature been revealed in your rampage, or was it always there? Regardless…. Gora!”

“Y-yes!”

“Take Farl and withdraw. Tigar and I will hold him back.”

Farl, who was clinging to life through the resilience and healing powers of a demon, would certainly not withstand the upcoming battle. Staying near such fierce combat could lead to an unforeseen accident, and without the ability to respond, death would be inevitable. Such an end would be as tragic as that of the decimated aerial combat unit.

I could not allow this. The number of my comrades has already dwindled in my absence. I do not wish to lose another while under my watch. For this reason, Farl must leave the front lines here.

“I… I can still…”

“…Sorry!”

Farl seemed eager to claim she could still fight, but her bravado was clearly just that. Perhaps she was concerned about not having contributed enough to the battle. Her statement was typical of Farl: caring and responsible.

But Gora was here. More concerned for his beloved wife’s well-being than she herself, Gora slung his great axe over his shoulder, scooped Farl up in his arms, and retreated as swiftly as a worried hare.

“Gyagyagya!”

“I won’t let you.”

Karelvo, awakened to his sadistic desires, was never going to let anyone escape from here. As Gora attempted to flee, Karelvo advanced, stretching out his countless arms to crush him. I intervened before he could do so by severing the extended arms with my twin swords and the sand pincers.

Karelvo seemed to have become accustomed to the pain, as he refrained from screaming this time, unlike before. Immediately after regenerating new arms from the remnants of the old, he swung them down at me again, as if annoyed. But his monotonous and repetitive strikes were never going to hit. I dove into the gaps between the arms, closing the distance while avoiding them.

“””Garuruuaaaah!!!”””

“What!?”

“You can do that too?!”

What greeted me as I leaped into his bosom was a breath attack, not from his mouth but from the beastly heads that outnumbered even the arms. Although they were newly formed, it was not strange that the same mouths could release the breath… but is there a reason? How was his body structured?

Fortunately, the breath from the heads on the body was considerably less powerful than that from the dragon’s head. While I was blown away by the breath’s pressure, my exoskeleton remained undamaged.

I couldn’t begin to guess the inner workings of Karelvo’s body, but one thing was clear: the more he was injured, the more beastly mouths he would gain to release his breath attack. I couldn’t afford to approach him carelessly. It seemed I would have to fight from a distance, whittling him down.

“I’ll attack mainly using spiritual arts, Tigar. Then we take the chance to escape.”

“Alright… hey, that’s hot! Take this, you bastaaard!”

If I were to fight from a distance, I could use the pair of floating sand pincers. Stabbing with them while closed or cutting with them in their true fashion, I continued to wound Karelvo. At the same time, Tigar, though harried by the dragon’s fiery breath, was relentlessly bombarding Karelvo with his lightning strikes.

Karelvo’s body was torn by the pincers, bleeding from the gashes, and when subjected to high-voltage electric shocks, his body emitted plumes of black smoke. I could feel the damage accumulating steadily, yet Karelvo sought recovery in a very obvious manner.

“Uwaaaahhh!?”

“Help meeeeee!”

Karelvo’s immense size meant that his thrashing alone was enough to demolish the surrounding buildings. Moreover, the destruction was severe because he had been moving while battling us. Everywhere Karelvo passed, it was invariably reduced to rubble.

Before turning into debris, these buildings had been homes and places of business. Some people must have died in the collapse, but there were also those who had managed to flee outside before their buildings crumbled. Among them, however, were those who had escaped too late. Karelvo, with his numerous arms, seized these stragglers and tossed them into his equally numerous beastly mouths.

With each citizen of the imperial capital devoured, the rate at which Karelvo’s heads and arms regenerated seemed to increase. His already massive body grew larger bit by bit, and with more arms, he seemed to become more powerful the more he consumed.

Since Karelvo’s appearance, the continuous screams of terror from the city’s citizens have now been accompanied by the agonizing cries of despair from those being consumed alive. I consciously ignored their voices and continued attacking him with my sand pincers while preparing another spiritual art.

“Everyone, fire! Show the valor of His Highness and the ‘Imperial Sword Knights’!”

“””Uoooohhh!”””

While this was happening, new soldiers appeared before Karelvo. They were equipped with armored armor and, as they claimed, it was clear they were indeed the “Imperial Sword Knights” of Remus.

The walls surrounding the imperial capital had been destroyed from the inside by Karelvo, which is how they had entered. However, Remus himself was not among them. The one commanding them was someone else. It seemed that he had sent his subordinates to subdue Karelvo.

The “Imperial Sword Knights” seemed to be making good use of their armor. They first deployed the armaments on their arms, unveiling cannons hidden within, from which they fired explosive flaming projectiles. Upon impact, they charged forward, each thrusting their spears into the numerous beastly heads of Karelvo.

“Burn!”

“””Guooooooooooh!?”””

The spears they thrust appeared to be etched with spiritual circuits. As the embedded blades heated up, Karelvo was forced to taste the agony of being burned from the inside.

The beastly heads on his torso contorted in pain, spewing black smoke from their mouths. Yet that wasn’t due to being burned internally; that was precisely the sign of releasing his dragon breath attack.

“Good! Keep going just lik…”

“””Gruaaaahhh!!!”””

Before I could issue a warning to the knights, Karelvo released a breath attack from the beastly mouths on his torso. The “Imperial Sword Knights” who were in close proximity were repelled by the sheer force of the erupting breath.

However, the performance of the Empire’s armor was quite remarkable. Although their surfaces had melted slightly, the lives of those equipped were thoroughly protected. The “Imperial Sword Knights” quickly got to their feet and bravely confronted Karelvo once more.

Watching the “Imperial Sword Knights” seemingly unaffected by his breath, Karelvo let out a roar of frustration. It appeared he was redirecting his killing intent from us to the “Imperial Sword Knights.” This presented us with a chance to withdraw from the battle.

“Boss, shouldn’t we take this chance to run?”

“Yes. We have no obligation to keep company with Karelvo… Huh?”

Just as I contemplated escaping while the “Imperial Sword Knights” were engaging Karelvo, I noticed that within the imperial capital, some imperial soldiers were fighting among themselves. There were only two on one side and five on the other. Due to the numerical difference, the former were at a great disadvantage.

Had they been mere imperial soldiers, I would have disregarded them. However, the ones involved in the fight were individuals we could not simply ignore. After exchanging looks with Tigar, we nodded to each other, assaulted the five soldiers from behind, and rescued the two men.

“You save… huh?!”

“You are!”

“It’s been a while, both of you.”

The duo we had rescued were obviously Marcellus and Decius. They were among the few imperial soldiers whom we would consider helping. As I watched the both of them stand there, frozen in astonishment, I couldn’t help but grin slyly beneath the mask that covered the lower half of my face.