Chapter 65: Anomalies (7)
Chapter 65: Anomalies (7)
As the name suggests, the ultimate goal of Confused Unity is for everything to eventually become one.
Of course, the method to achieve this is by eating and storing things within one's stomach.
Consequently, whether they are cultists or monsters, enemies belonging to the Confused Unity lineage are often obsessed with consuming special things in vast quantities.
And in fact, they truly do grow stronger every time they feast.
Because of this, Edmerec is a particularly peculiar individual even among the followers of Confused Unity.
He doesn't become one by eating; instead, he vomits back out the things that have mixed within him.
As a result, the rate at which his main body accumulated power was bound to be incredibly slow.
However, that didn't mean Edmerec was weak. If he were, he wouldn't have risen to the position of Archbishop.
Everything he had consumed became a clone, and those clones were like his own limbs.
It would be more accurate to view Edmerec as the sum of all his clones.
He hadn't strengthened himself as a single individual; he was a monster that had bloated its presence by becoming a swarm.
That was Edmerec.
Naturally, each clone was assigned a specific role... and surprisingly, the main body's role was not combat.
Unlike most cultists who were obsessed with power, Edmerec was a bit more devout.
He believed his mission was to endlessly increase his numbers like a queen ant, to the point where he willingly sacrificed his own strength.
Why else would his epithet be "Vomiting Edmerec"?
It was because he truly vomited out his clones without a moment's rest.
But as I said, Edmerec was a swarm, not an individual.
The power Edmerec had given up hadn't simply vanished into thin air.
It had been concentrated into other clones specifically created for combat.
Yes. For example, like that grotesque giant with tentacles where its head should be, currently charging toward us.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
—Gwoooooooh!
"It doesn't even have a mouth! Where on earth is that sound coming from?!"
"Perhaps there are tiny mouths hidden inside those tentacles... Ugh. My apologies. I just imagined it catching prey with those wriggling tentacles and chewing them up with inner mouths, and I..."
Elisha was horrified by the strangest things, and Vincent had an unnecessarily vivid imagination.
While Helena and the other students were holding off the smaller clones, Elisha, Vincent, and I had decided to deal with Edmerec's main body.
Vincent had his flaws right now, but it was still true that we were the strongest among the group.
However, there was one problem.
"Yandel! Was that behemoth part of your plan too?!"
"No! This is the first time I've seen him produce a boss-level clone after eating a boss!"
An unexpected, powerful enemy had been added to the mix.
The Edmerec raid in H&A took place outdoors, so I really didn't know something like this was possible...
Of course, no matter how much I complained, he wasn't going to call it a draw now, so there was only one way forward.
"Lady Glenziel, Vincent. Can the two of you handle that thing?"
"I believe I can take it down with my firepower alone, but..."
"But you're worried about whether Vincent can hold out until you've unleashed all that firepower. I understand."
"...I'm sorry."
"No. This isn't your fault. It's Edmerec's fault for making something like that without warning."
Blaming Vincent here would only pointlessly tank our morale. Besides, hadn't I brought him along knowing full well he was only half-functional right now?
So, this was all the fault of the wicked cultist, Edmerec. That was my story, and I was sticking to it.
Both of them looked bewildered by my blatant shifting of blame, but we didn't even have time to waste on that.
"Then let's take down the big guy first. Edmerec comes after."
"True. It would be difficult to fight while ignoring something like that."
"I agree."
As Elisha quickly conceded, translucent spheres manifesting water and wind rose above her head.
Vincent gripped his sword and immediately dashed forward.
I also leveled my staff and began chanting.
Thanks to Shadow of Elements, Elisha could rapidly fire off water and wind attribute magic.
In that case, my job wasn't to deal direct damage, but to hinder the tentacle giant so Vincent could hold out a little longer.
And when it came to stopping power, nothing beat earth-type magic.
Thump.
The vibration of the core resonated with my heart, drawing in the surrounding mana.
Thanks to the System correction, the magic completed itself naturally without me needing to focus intensely.
By the time the chant ended, a chunk of rock larger than my upper body was floating in front of my staff.
It wasn't sharp, nor was it spinning.
It was magic that focused on mass itself rather than a sophisticated attack.
"Rock Throw!"
It was a truly crude name, but since the magic itself was crude, there was no helping it.
The activation word had to be the phrase that best represented the spell, after all.
Whoosh—
The rock flew through the air with a heavy, wind-splitting sound.
With this, even that massive tentacle giant would be forced to stumble.
In that opening, Vincent could slash at its legs to rob it of its mobility.
And Elisha would be able to cast a more powerful spell to deal definitive damage.
Even I thought it was a perfect choice of magic... but unfortunately, I didn't get to see the result.
In the corner of my vision.
I had expected Edmerec to keep vomiting new clones while the others fought, just as he had in H&A and just as he had been doing until a moment ago.
But instead, he was reaching out toward me.
He pressed his index through pinky fingers together, dropped his thumb downward, and then snapped it hard against the other four fingers.
It was a gesture like a beast opening its maw and then snapping it shut.
It was the precursor to Void Feast, an Authority shared by all priests of Confused Unity—and specifically, its superior version, Predation Chain.
The effect was simple. It just repeated Void Feast three times in a row.
"That crazy bastard!"
I threw my body to the side with everything I had.
Crunch.
Translucent teeth snapped at the space where I had just been standing.
As long as I identified the preparatory movement in advance, just like when I dodged the first Void Feast, it wasn't that difficult to avoid.
...The problem was that it didn't end there.
Roll, roll.
"Wind!"
I rolled quickly across the floor, even using magic to push my body along.
As if chasing me, the eerie sounds of consecutive chewing echoed right behind my back.
Only after barely dodging all three did I spring up and glare at Edmerec.
He gave a thin smirk and trudged toward me.
"Did you really think I would just stand still?"
"You have until now."
"Whether it's the fact that you sought me out here instead of at the dungeon entrance, or even now... it seems you've investigated quite a lot about me. But didn't I tell you at the start? This is a rather special situation."
Edmerec's gaunt arm was briefly revealed beneath his fluttering robes.
That arm, looking like a rotten tree branch, was aimed at me once more.
As I scrambled to my feet, the translucent jaws crushed the empty air again.
I waved my hand dismissively at Elisha, who was flinching and repeatedly glancing over here, and shouted.
"Just buy time! Either way, we've stopped him from vomiting more clones, so just hold out until Helena's side finishes up and comes to help!"
Then, I started running for my life.
Void Feast was powerful, but its telegraph was very distinct, and since he had to manually aim at the point of attack, it became easy to dodge if I kept moving or maintained focus.
Furthermore, priests of Confused Unity had no distinct offensive Authorities other than Void Feast, so as long as I ignored the special patterns, I didn't need to worry about anything else.
Since things had turned out this way, I would be the one to keep Edmerec occupied.
I knew his patterns perfectly, so buying time should be possible.
However, Edmerec didn't take his eyes off me as I circled him while chanting magic; he simply continued speaking in a composed manner.
"Unlike the other higher-ups who designated you a target simply because you were a threat to the Church, He personally commanded your death. I have no choice but to step forward differently than usual, do I?"
The magic I was preparing was Thunder Bolt.
Priests of Confused Unity were essentially one-trick ponies with Void Feast, but that was because Void Feast alone was enough to handle most situations.
Therefore, a lightning-type spell—which was as fast as possible and would inevitably cause rigidity without special preparation—would be best.
"Everything shall be fulfilled according to His will."
Edmerec raised his hand toward me again.
Before those fingers, which looked like they would snap if tapped, could close again, I released my mana first.
"Thunder Bolt!"
Crackle!
Blue lightning pierced through the air.
Of course, it wasn't actually as fast as real lightning. It was merely an imitation of lightning created by my imagination and mana.
But even so, it should have been at a speed difficult to follow with the naked eye.
"Devour it."
Crunch.
As the translucent maw manifested in the air and bit down on the lightning, the magic vanished without a trace.
Tsk. Even though I expected this, seeing it in person was absurd.
How does it make sense to just eat magic and make it disappear?
Still, since I had anticipated this, I considered it a successful aggressive block of one Void Feast and prepared for the next attack.
But for some reason, instead of using Void Feast again, Edmerec suddenly pointed his index finger at me.
"No one can escape hunger. Soon, you shall become just like me."
A short declaration. Immediately following it, I felt an intense, agonizing hunger.
My legs gave out against my will, tangling together, and my body tumbled across the floor.
"Gah!"
I had an idea of what this was. But that only made me more confused.
Because...
This was originally a debuff Edmerec only used in his final phase.
"Dammit."
Faking a pattern just to land a curse... that's low.