Carpeng Subjugation (2)
The massive frame of Carpeng I had faced in the past had always made me shrink back.
The beast’s howl pouring from its maw had frozen my body solid.
The mere wind pressure from a swing of its arm had torn my skin.
The tough hide covering its entire body had simply bounced my blade away.
I had never once managed to land a hit.
It had been an endlessly high wall, one I could never hope to climb.
But not now.
Twenty-seven years later, I could face Carpeng without flinching.
I met its eyes and did not turn my back.
I could endure the beast’s roar.
I knocked aside Carpeng’s arm and let the wind pressure slide past me.
And then—
I cut it.
I stained my sword with its blood.
I shattered a claw.
I heard the howl of pain as it writhed.
At last.
At last, I had reached it.
[GRAAUUU-!]
Carpeng’s halberd came swinging.
I twisted my body at once and raised my sword at an angle.
To block a heavy strike.
To receive an attack from an enemy larger than myself.
To stop Carpeng’s blow.
Flowing Water manifested.
Kaaang—
Carpeng’s halberd slid down the length of my blade.
Right after, Heinzel’s slash whipped toward Carpeng’s wrist.
But it never came down.
It never connected.
Carpeng slipped past it with an uncanny motion.
The halberd carved empty air.
At once, writhing blood-qi gathered on Carpeng’s claws.
“Luci!”
Carpeng’s claws went berserk.
That brute would never dodge in time.
I lunged forward and kicked Heinzel’s body sideways.
Then I raised my sword high.
Hundreds, thousands of frenzied slashes hammered my blade.
Hammered my body.
Claws tore open my side.
Before the blood droplets could even spray, they shredded my shoulder.
My sword screamed.
Flesh burst from my body.
Agony seared every nerve.
I could not see with my eyes.
I activated Qi Sensing.
My head felt ready to split open.
How the hell does that Noah kid manage this? Tch.
I bit down hard on my lip and held on.
I poured every nerve into Qi Sensing.
I focused on Carpeng.
Only then did the storm of its blood-qi begin to take shape, little by little.
I angled my sword to match its movements.
Kaaang— Kiiing—
I blocked.
I deflected.
I knocked it aside.
I struck back.
From behind, Heinzel’s halberd tore through the wind as it swung.
I threw myself clear to open distance.
The halberd struck Carpeng’s hide.
With a kuddeuk, Carpeng’s muscles swelled.
The halberd was stopped by pure muscle.
“You son of a bitchhh!”
[Grrr-!]
With Heinzel’s roar, his Unique Ability activated.
Gravity layered onto the halberd.
Its weight grew crushing.
The force behind it turned savage.
At last it tore through Carpeng’s tough hide and drove deep between the hard muscles.
I did not miss that opening. I used my Unique Ability and slammed a sword strike into the split hide.
Dark-red liquid sprayed as a new scar was carved into Carpeng’s body.
I could see the possibility.
Our bodies were wrecked—
but Carpeng was no better.
That fact set my blood on fire.
It poured strength into me.
It made my heart pound harder.
I steadied my breath and raised the tempo.
I charged Carpeng and swung my sword.
Deflect, rebound, slash, thrust.
Its tail whipped toward my throat.
I stepped on that tail, leapt high, and twisted my body.
I swung again.
A sword swung from such an unnatural posture could not carry power.
But my Unique Ability ignored that.
Distance did not matter.
Power did not matter.
As long as I could see it.
As long as I swung—
it would cut.
And so I carved another scar into Carpeng’s body.
Heinzel’s attack followed at once.
His Unique Ability wrapped the halberd in wind as it came crashing down.
At the same moment Carpeng’s own halberd swung to meet it.
Jjeoeong-!
The air itself exploded.
The noise hammered my eardrums like madness.
I twisted in midair, landed, and charged again.
Without even looking back, Carpeng blocked my sword with one hand alone.
The relentless exchange continued.
I dodged claws, deflected blood-qi, and carved scars into its body.
I, too, scattered droplets of blood from its blood-qi.
In the empty air, beast’s blood and human blood mingled.
Emotion surged higher.
I raised the tempo further.
I spent stamina without restraint and used my Unique Ability.
My vision turned red.
Bloody tears streamed from my left eye.
It felt as if the eyeball would be ripped out.
The pain was maddening.
But the more it hurt, the louder Carpeng’s voice grew.
Its breathing turned ragged.
Pain—
turned into pleasure.
I aimed for its joints and stabbed.
I ripped out claws.
I severed blood vessels.
I broke bone.
[GRRRRAAAAAAAA-!]
Carpeng let out a desperate scream and shook its body free.
Heinzel and I both opened distance and steadied our rough breathing.
Just as we were about to throw ourselves at Carpeng again—
the blood-qi that had only coated its claws—
engulfed its entire body.
An ominous sensation wrapped around me.
I felt that giving it any more time would be a mistake.
I charged at full power.
I spread Qi Sensing.
Its pupils took vague shape.
That was enough.
I activated my Unique Ability and swung my sword.
Straight at its eye.
At the right eye that matched my own, I swung.
A wet, fleshy sound pounded my eardrums.
Sticky blood—
and its eyeball—
dropped to the ground.
Yet Carpeng paid it no mind, still wrapping itself in blood-qi.
Driving it into its body.
Condensing it.
Heinzel must have sensed it too; he charged with a howl.
His roughly swung halberd burst Carpeng’s side open.
Its guts spilled out.
Even so—
it kept condensing the blood-qi.
Bottomless unease flooded my body.
Forgetting even to breathe, I fired sword strikes.
Heinzel tore into it like a madman.
And when Carpeng’s entrails had soaked the entire ground—
Puhwaak-!
The wet, fleshy sound that until now had only come from Carpeng’s body—
the spray of blood—
the ragged breathing—
“Th-this… son of a… bi…tch… kkh…”
A voice thick with agony burst from Heinzel’s mouth.
I recovered my sword and looked at him.
The halberd forged from manticore skull was shattered.
His right arm, thick with rough muscle, had been severed.
The legs that had always walked so boldly were twisted and broken.
The stupidly sturdy body that had stood firm no matter what—
was crawling pitifully across the ground.
I replayed the moment just now.
Even with only one eye, I had not closed it.
I had kept it wide open, yet I had not perceived it.
Even with Qi Sensing spread, I had not felt it.
It had not taken shape.
There had been no killing intent.
No sign.
Not even movement.
Carpeng had simply stood still—
in place, relaxing its body.
And yet—
how had it produced this result?
I could not understand.
I bit my lip and charged again.
I forced my eyes wider.
I spread Qi Sensing even sharper.
I wrapped myself in thicker mana.
In sharper mana.
Without relaxing my strength.
Steadying my breath—
I launched a sword strike.
Of every swing I had ever made—
the sharpest blade flew toward Carpeng.
Yet—
it did not cut.
It did not reach.
The sword I had swung with all my soul flailed, blocked by its blood-qi.
I recovered the blade and charged again.
Again.
Again.
Again.
Still it would not cut.
Still it would not reach.
The sword I had swung at it was now on the verge of breaking.
In the end I stopped moving and watched Carpeng.
I watched the blood-qi gathering into its body.
The writhing blood-qi in the air concentrated upon Carpeng.
It covered its entire form and gathered at the heart.
Each time, Carpeng’s heartbeat thundered.
Instead of the blood-qi that had shimmered in the air—
its heartbeat resounded through the empty space.
“Lu…ci… what the hell is this…?”
Heinzel, having hurriedly stopped the bleeding with a potion, staggered closer.
His face was deathly pale.
But in his remaining left hand he still gripped a broken shard of the halberd.
“I… don’t know either. I never saw this in the past.”
“That so… I felt nothing. Couldn’t see it either. No movement at all, far as I could tell. What a damn mess.”
I handed him the last remaining potion.
“Looks like you used it all up stopping the bleeding. Drink.”
“I’ll take it gratefully.”
Heinzel, who had never once accepted one before, took it without hesitation.
“Your body’s in complete shit, huh.”
“Mm… not great, no.”
“What are you going to do?”
Heinzel forced the potion down and ground his teeth.
“What kind of question is that? If I don’t cut that bastard’s right arm off, I won’t sleep for the rest of my life.”
“Khuhuh… Fair enough. Then let’s go.”
“Fucking bastard. One way or another, I’m taking that arm.”
I steadied my breath, wrapped myself in mana—
and charged Carpeng once more.
It would not cut, yet I swung.
It would not reach, yet I thrust.
Without rest.
Forgetting even to breathe—
I kept swinging.
And after that long barrage of sword strikes—
Carpeng moved.
And then—
my body was smashed into the ground.
My left arm was severed.
My legs twisted.
Every rib shattered.
My guts burst.
My muscles tore.
My left eyeball exploded.
From my eyes, my nose, my mouth, my ears—
from every hole in my body, blood gushed.
I lost my sword.
My vision darkened.
A cold sensation—
swallowed my body whole.
As my mind grew distant—
and every sense dulled—
“H-huh… I’m still alive… but… what the hell is this…”
A warm energy wrapped my entire body.
Jiiik— tak—
Jiiiik— tak—
The sound of something scraping the earth.
Pitiful.
Weak—
yet carrying strength—
a voice reached me.
“A-at least a four-person party… You dumb uncles. Did you really hate treating me to a meal that much…? So stingy…”