Chapter 34
Reshan stared blankly at Celsia and Aquila.
The boy, who had just turned ten, did not fully understand what their conversation meant.
Still, more than anything else, what shocked Reshan was the appearance of his half-brother, Aquila Reschenhardt.
He looked completely unfazed.
If anything, he seemed bored.
He even wore an expression similar to the one their father sometimes made.
That, more than anything, was strange.
Even to ten-year-old Reshan’s eyes, Aquila had always looked excessively pale whenever he stood before Celsia.
“…M-Mother!”
But Reshan lost his chance to ask anything.
Celsia opened the bottle and swallowed what was inside.
CRASH!
Glass shards scattered in all directions, cutting into Celsia’s bare feet, yet the boy’s mother showed no reaction at all.
That, too, was deeply strange.
Normally, she would have immediately called for someone in anger.
However, what drew Reshan’s attention was neither Celsia’s behavior nor the blood flowing from her wounds.
Black veins.
From the top of Celsia’s foot, black lines sprouted like spiderwebs and began spreading throughout her body.
‘Th-that… what… is that…?’
Even as he stepped backward, Reshan felt an urge to move closer to see it more clearly.
But he did not want to call out to her.
Not because he feared she might respond to his voice, but because she might lift her head and look at him instead….
“…Hey!”
At that moment, someone forcefully grabbed the boy’s shoulder.
“My words—damn it! Shen!”
“Yes!”
“Just listen!”
“Yes, sir!”
Before Reshan could fully regain his senses, Shen lifted his small body straight up.
“W-wha?!”
“Pardon me for a moment, Lord Reshan!”
Reshan turned his head in shock.
Beside him, he saw Aquila hurriedly picking up May.
“Should I carry both of them?!”
“Just run!”
With those words, Aquila and Shen bolted out of the greenhouse as urgently as they had rushed inside.
“M-Mother…!”
Having regained his senses, Reshan turned his head back toward Celsia, who had been left behind.
And he saw it.
In his rapidly shrinking field of view, her head had begun to swell grotesquely, turning black.
“Ghk…!”
Reshan could not even scream.
That was the last thing the boy saw, but even as they put distance between themselves and the greenhouse, the body that had begun to swell did not stop.
It expanded monstrously, like dough rising in an oven, losing all trace of its original form and forcing everything inside outward.
Bushes, flowers, everything within the greenhouse was flattened against the walls.
The glass, unable to withstand the pressure, began to crack with sharp sounds.
And then, finally—
BOOOOM!
The greenhouse exploded.
***
A thunderous roar swept across the ground.
Though they had retreated quickly, the moment the ominous cracking sound brushed past their ears, sharp fragments tore past Aquila and Shen as they hid behind a tree.
CRUNCH!
The side of the tree was gouged out and shattered completely.
Had they hidden themselves even a moment later, those shards would have pierced their bodies.
‘It is nothing but near-death experiences lately….’
Aquila panted as he set May down on the ground.
Taking a deep breath, he cautiously peeked out.
All the trees and bushes around the greenhouse had been knocked flat or uprooted, blown outward.
That was how powerful the explosion had been.
“My goodness….”
Shen, having set Reshan down, also peeked out toward the greenhouse and swallowed a hollow breath.
Reshan and May stared in that direction as well, stunned.
But it was still too early to be shocked by just that.
The explosion itself was merely the result of Celsia’s body swelling after consuming the Black Swamp sludge.
The real problem was what emerged when she burst apart.
The monster born from devouring Celsia’s soul and tearing through her body.
Aquila’s expression hardened as he turned his head.
“You should not stay here. Go toward the estate and bring anyone who can use Divine Power. A priest, or someone in armor.”
“…What?”
“Since I am the target anyway, it will not chase after you.”
At this point in time, the Black Swamp had not spread widely yet.
So for now, the Sun God’s Divine Power should still work on the monster.
Corrupted divinity could be purified by another form of divine power.
Brushing his sweat-soaked hair back, Aquila steadied his breathing again.
“And Shen, you—”
“I will stay by your side, young master.”
Shen spoke firmly.
His eyes were resolute, declaring that he would not retreat, even though he did not fully understand what was happening.
But Aquila had intended to say the opposite.
Rather than telling him to withdraw, Aquila needed as many people as possible right now.
He could not clear this quest alone in his current state.
‘Calling the Temple Knights to Igrail was not for this reason, but in hindsight, it is fortunate. This body right now is… trash.’
His heart was still pounding violently from the sprint.
‘And I have not even met Ark yet, and someone has already gone and eaten Black Swamp sludge. The scenario is moving too fast.’
Was it because he had possessed a special body this time?
The situation seemed to be deviating strangely from the usual flow.
Aquila furrowed his brow.
“What do you mean, something is chasing you? From your conversation with Lady Celsia earlier, it sounded like you knew something. Do not tell me this is another prophecy from the dragon….”
It was then, just as Shen tilted his head and asked—
“…Grrk, urrgh!”
As if answering the question in Aquila’s stead, a horrifying sound that no human could ever imitate suddenly echoed.
“Grrrk!”
It came from the direction where the greenhouse had been.
At the bizarre sound, neither quite a cry nor a scream, everyone but Aquila froze.
Just hearing it sent chills down their spines.
…Scrrk. Scrrk.
Not the sound of footsteps striking the ground, but rather the dragging of something heavy.
It was clearly approaching them.
“S-something… something is coming….”
Reshan, pale with terror, barely managed to speak, even though the view was obscured by collapsed bushes and trees.
When humans encounter something that has consumed corrupted divinity for the first time, they lose their wits.
They are seized by the fear that they might become the same.
And their reactions were a sign of that.
Clicking his tongue, Aquila pushed Reshan and May toward the direction of the estate.
“Go, before it is too late. Bring someone who can use Divine Power.”
When the children hesitated, Aquila shouted again.
“Now!”
“…Yes!”
The twins flinched as if struck, then finally began running toward the estate.
Watching their small retreating figures, Aquila let out a breath.
A dreadful stench had begun to spread.
Scrrk. Scrrk.
It was not a smell perceived by the nose.
This odor came only from a soul engulfed in black flames as it fell into corruption.
“Young master….”
Shen clutched Aquila’s hand tightly, his voice trembling, ready to flee together at any moment.
His eyes widened.
Between the dark bushes, Shen first saw what looked like two crimson lanterns.
They seemed to float in midair.
“Ghk…!”
Then, from the darkness, a massive hand suddenly burst forth.
Five fingers slammed deep into the ground.
As it dragged its ‘body’ forward by that distance, the opposite hand emerged and planted itself slightly ahead.
Only then did Shen realize that it was crawling using only its arms and hands.
Black sludge bubbled and boiled, coating it like skin, yet constantly melted away and soaked into the ground.
…SPLAT. SCRRK. SPLAT. SCRRK.
Shen’s grip on Aquila tightened.
The more of it was revealed, the clearer it became.
What he had thought were crimson lanterns were in fact grotesquely bulging eyes, looking as though they might burst at any moment.
Horror spread across Shen’s face.
DING!
[You have encountered the named monster, ‘Corrupted Shadow of Ecstasy’!]
‘As expected, it is in the initial stage. Slow, and it does not look intelligent….’
Aquila carefully examined the monster slowly crawling toward him.
Just as he had expected, it was at its weakest stage.
It had a set attack pattern, and as long as one did not let it get too close, it was manageable.
Many were fooled by its slow movement, but its close-range attacks were extremely fast.
Of course, knowing the strategy did not mean Aquila could relax right now.
He had little mana, and his physical condition was a mess.
Aquila looked at Shen, whose hand was gripping him as if it might shatter.
This creature first drove those who encountered it into fear.
So if that debuff could be removed—
“Shen.”
“…Young master. What should I do?”
But Shen spoke first.
With a stiff expression, he kept his eyes on the approaching monster while slowly retreating.
“I do not know what to call that… ‘thing’ that makes my skin crawl just by looking at it, but it does not seem particularly fast.”
Shen’s complexion was deathly pale, cold sweat soaking his forehead.
Yet he did not seem completely consumed by fear.
His eyes were carefully observing the monster advancing toward them.
“…Do you know something again? Do you know how to defeat it?”
Even as he asked, Shen’s eyes held a quiet conviction that Aquila might be able to handle this as well.
‘Oh.’
Had the results of Aquila talking about dragon prophecies and various strategies finally begun to show?
Aquila’s eyes gleamed with interest.
It was not a bad sign.
Whether Shen had resisted the debuff or had not been affected by it at all, things would proceed much more smoothly this way.
“Yes. It looks disgusting, but that is about it. It is tougher than it looks, and since its skin keeps melting, ordinary weapons will not even stick. And if a blade does make contact, it will simply melt iron away, which is admittedly a problem.”
“…Then is that not far too dangerous?!”
Shen cried out, his face turning even paler.
The attendant pulled his young master farther back.
“I said ordinary weapons. A blade tempered with Divine Power will be fine. Divinity responds to divinity. Things of the same kind have a higher chance of interfering with each other.”
“D-divinity?”
“Yes, Shen. You can see it too. Do not look away. That is—”
Because the creature was so slow, Aquila intended to continue explaining calmly while waiting for the Temple Knights.
But situations never unfolded exactly as he expected.
“Aaah! What in the world is that?!”
“A m-monster….”
Drawn by the sound of the greenhouse explosion, people arrived.
Reschenhardt’s private soldiers.
They came this far, only to discover the horrifying monster.
At the sight of its melting skin and the soul-freezing fear it exuded, they froze instantly.
Some stopped dead in their tracks, but one of them noticed Aquila standing in front.
Snapping back to his senses, he immediately drew his sword.
“To dare appear on the land where the great ancient dragon sleeps, and defile this ground…!”
The soldier shouted as he pointed his blade at the monster.
As someone belonging to Reschenhardt, his bravery was unquestionable.
“Wherever you came from, I will not let you harm the young master!”
As if to prove his resolve was not empty, a faint aura wrapped around his sword.
He was a man who had stepped into the beginner ranks of Sword Expert.
Ordinary monsters would not even pose a challenge.
But perhaps the creature sensed that it was about to be attacked.
The being that had been crawling solely toward Aquila suddenly turned its bulging eyes to the side.
“…Get out of the way!”
Aquila shouted, his eyes widening at the sight.
But his voice did not reach him.
WHOOOOM!
The sound of air being torn apart by a swinging arm came first.
An attack on a completely different level from its crawling speed surged toward the soldier.
SPLAT!
A sound that should never come from a human body echoed across the grand garden.
A single strike.
The soldier who was hit exploded apart, utterly destroyed.
Viscous liquid dripping from the monster fell over the remains, instantly melting flesh and blood into black sludge.
Drip.
Drip….
A terrifying silence descended upon the grand garden.