Chapter 31
Chapter 31
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 31
Chapter Title: Rise of Ouroboros
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“Kwaaaak! S-save me! Please!”
“H-holy bombs from the sky...”
“Saintess, salvation—what the hell? Why are you smashing pots?!”
Roar. Roarrr.
If hell existed, this was it.
The main camp of the Daroa Empire’s vanguard.
Now reduced to unrecognizable ruins.
Remnants of the holy water bombs poured from the sky.
The combined handiwork of the pint-sized hero who swept the battlefield
and the saintess delivering physical salvation with her flail.
“H-huh, I’ll donate big!”
“Run! Tell everyone to run!”
Soldiers screamed as they burst from between the burning barracks.
Thud!
Crunch!
But their flight didn’t last.
A flail streaked from the darkness, cleaving a soldier’s skull neatly in two.
"Goddess, one more lamb’s on its way up."
In the heart of the battlefield, thick with the stench of blood and choking smoke.
At the epicenter of the slaughter stood Daroa’s vanguard commander,
the black mage Barkas, alone.
He clutched his staff with trembling hands.
‘No way...’
Terror shook his eyes.
‘The undead legion I slaved over for years... gone in a blink?’
He’d just raised a triumphant toast moments ago.
Sneered at the imperial troops fleeing in terror from an empty fortress.
What a delusion.
Arrogance.
They thought they’d cornered the prey.
Turned out,
they were the ones in the trap.
Thud. Thud.
Heavy footsteps cut through the flames.
Barkas held his breath, staring toward the sound.
Beyond the flickering blaze, a man’s silhouette emerged.
Jet-black cape fluttering over his dark uniform.
Savage pressure riding the night wind.
Crimson eyes blazing with madness.
The empire’s mad tyrant,
Darcor.
“Why keep glancing around? You’re making me dizzy.”
Darcor readjusted his bloodied leather gloves and spoke in a low murmur.
Dry. Indifferent.
Bored eyes, like sizing up a bug.
“Were you waiting for me?”
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Barkas staggered back.
Instinct screamed a warning.
This wasn’t human.
A monster in human skin.
“D-don’t come closer! Stay back...!”
Barkas’s voice cracked into a shriek.
Thud. Thud.
Darcor didn’t stop.
He stepped forward even more leisurely.
“Bursting into someone else’s house without so much as a knock.”
Darcor cocked his head.
His gaze turned icy.
“Looks like you skipped manners class.”
“Uwaaaak! Y-you demon!”
Blood vessels bulged in Barkas’s eyes.
A cornered rat bites the cat.
“I-I won’t die like this... Can’t hand my head to empire scum!”
Barkas plunged a hand into his robes.
What emerged was a sinister necklace: a black serpent devouring its own tail.
⚠️ WARNING ⚠️ Forbidden relic detected: Necklace of Immortality. Darcor’s eyebrow twitched.
Nothing like that in the original novel.
‘Damn, my fault again?’
An unexpected twist.
Barkas jammed the necklace straight into his heart without hesitation.
“All grudges of this battlefield as tribute...”
Squelch.
Boom!
Crimson-black ritual circle erupted from beneath Barkas’s feet.
The surrounding space screamed and warped.
“Keheuk! Ugh... kuaaaak!”
Foam and guttural howls burst from Barkas’s mouth.
And then.
The space around them twisted all at once.
Whoooosh.
“C-Commander? Uwaaak!”
“M-my body’s getting sucked in!”
“S-save us! Please!”
Fleeing Daroa stragglers shrieked as they were dragged toward the circle’s core.
Not just the living.
Undead remnants melted by Veronica’s holy water barrage,
corpses littering the ground.
All sucked into the typhoon’s eye.
Crunch. Grind. Snap.
Bones pulverized, flesh mangled.
Living and dead mashed into one colossal meat paste.
Hell made manifest.
“Crazy bastard.”
Darcor watched the horror unfold, arms crossed, utterly unfazed.
‘Team-kill much? What a prick.’
⚙ SYSTEM ALERT ⚙ Target has committed a taboo. Caution: Subject deviates from causality. Darcor’s lip curled into a smirk.
Difficulty jacked way up.
Which meant,
plump rewards too.
“Fine. Let’s play.”
Rumble rumble rumble.
The transformation finished.
A abomination forged from thousands of corpses and vengeful spirits.
A colossal skull serpent.
The immortal beast biting its tail, regenerating endlessly.
The castle-sized skull serpent loomed over the battlefield.
Like a pup freezing before a tiger,
in the presence of such a higher being,
no one could even breathe.
💀 OUROBOROS AWAKENS 💀 [Ancient nightmare rises: Devourer of souls.] [Kuhahaha! I feel it—infinite power!]
Thousands of mouths embedded across its body yawned open at once,
Barkas’s voice booming out.
[I won’t die. I’ll grind every bit of your flesh and souls!]
Its roar unleashed a venom-laced gale in all directions.
“Hiiik!”
Eris, scavenging loot from afar, yelped and flopped down.
The holy sword in her grip shivered too.
“Hweeng... Scary. W-what is that thing?”
[Kid, stay the hell away. Touch it and you’re cursed!]
The holy sword wailed in revulsion.
“......”
The grin vanished from Saintess Chloe’s face.
Forgetting the gold coins scattered on the ground,
she glared at the monster with grim intensity.
‘Why that? Did Daroa stoop to forbidden rites?’
The origin of ancient black magic,
worst fiend that gnaws human souls.
[Ouroboros].
“Y-Your Majesty!”
Chloe cried out desperately.
Pure urgency.
“Don’t let its fangs graze you! It’s no mere beast.
It devours souls, not flesh—deadly poison. Even a brush...”
Her warning rang grave.
Soul venom: death beyond the goddess’s cure.
“Oh? Got it.”
Darcor’s reply fell flat, deflating the tension.
“No biting? Thanks for the tip, Saintess.”
Crack.
Darcor tilted his head askew,
gazing up at Ouroboros’s devouring glare.
No trace of soul poison dread or ancient magic terror in his eyes.
‘Creepy as hell.’
Darcor chuckled.
“But seriously. Just a stinky corpse-worm lumped together.”
The battlefield fell utterly silent.
Chloe’s jaw dropped,
Eris rubbed her eyes.
Even monstrous Barkas froze,
brain stalled.
‘Worm...?’
Worm.
Calling the ancient nightmare, apocalyptic fiend Ouroboros a worm.
[Y-you bastard!]
Barkas’s fury stabbed the heavens.
Thousands of skull mouths chattered in outrage.
[Dare mock this mighty power? I’ll pulverize you to dust—die!]
Kyaaaaaaaak!
The beast’s maw gaped to swallow the sky.
Thick shadow engulfed Darcor.
Putrid venom and razor fangs cascaded like a waterfall.
“Y-Your Majesty! Dodge!”
Chloe’s scream tore the air.
Yet Darcor stood stock-still, not twitching a muscle.
“N-nooo!”
Chloe despaired, squeezing her eyes shut. ◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Time crawled like it had frozen.
Poison rain pouring down, fangs inches from his nose, Chloe’s terror-stricken face.
Everything a stark, halted monochrome panorama.
‘Nice timing.’
Only Darcor moved in the stasis.
Flash.
His form blurred to mist.
Darcor’s eyes flared crimson. ⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡ Twilight Step [Instant spatial evasion / No cooldown]
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇ Boom!
Ouroboros’s jaws snapped shut around Darcor.
The ground quaked like an earthquake; dust billowed into clouds.
Power to annihilate anything.
[Kuhahaha! Dead now? Cocky fool met his end!]
Barkas bellowed in triumph.
Convinced Darcor melted into oblivion inside.
But.
“Who’re you yapping at? Shut it.”
[...?]
The maw froze.
The voice didn’t come from within.
From above.
Very close.
Right on its crown.
[H-how...?]
Dust parted, revealing Darcor squatting atop Ouroboros’s head.
Chin propped lazily,
bored expression gazing down.
“Yeah, way more pathetic up close.”
Darcor brushed off dust, utterly casual.
“Size for nothing. Slow as a bloated grub.”
[Y-you arrogant shit! G-get off!]
Barkas thrashed his head wildly.
Darcor didn’t budge an inch.
“You’re making me nauseous. Hold still.”
Darcor rose slowly.
Clenched a fist lightly, hoisted it skyward.
Hum.
Crimson-black aura coalesced thickly at his knuckles.
Air grew leaden.
Primal dread.
Barkas quivered at raw helplessness he’d never known.
‘D-danger. Dodge...’
No escape.
He was a trapped rat...
no, a worm underfoot.
“Sit.”
Darcor muttered low and slammed down.
Boom!
Earth-shattering roar. World inverted.
One strike.
Ouroboros’s skull caved in mercilessly, cratered into the dirt.
[Kuaaaaak...]
Dust storm surged.
It cleared slowly, unveiling the staggering sight.
Ouroboros’s head smashed flat, sprawled in ruin.
And atop it,
Darcor stood on the mangled dome.
He whispered kindly to the twitching, froth-choked beast,
a refreshingly content smile on his face.
“Good boy. Now you’re listening.”