Chapter 48
Chapter 48
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Black Rock King Attila
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"Hmm, it worked out fortunately? ...I never imagined this would actually be possible."
Muttering words that made no sense, Munjuk.
But unless one was a fool, no one would mistake the troll standing before them now for the Munjuk who had been shedding bloody tears just moments ago.
It was clearly a completely different being, to anyone who laid eyes on it.
Swish!
"Attila... Is that your name?"
Ian, who had been poised to stab the back of Munjuk's neck, took a step forward and asked in a calm voice.
"...Tch! To call out the king's name so lightly. Truly disloyal vassals."
Attila scowled, displeased that Munjuk had uttered his name at the last moment, but soon nodded.
"Well, fine. Though my body was riddled with wounds... you forced me to use this ritual. You have the right to know my name."
One of the reasons Attila had become the troll king was his mastery of voodoo sorcery.
Unlike other trolls who could only manage simple spells, Attila wielded his own unique brand of voodoo magic. He had used that power, sacrificing Munjuk as the vessel, to achieve complete recovery.
Clank!
Attila picked up Munjuk's spear from the ground and swung it lightly, giving an approving nod.
"Yes. I am the king of the Black Rock Trolls, lord of the Birch Forest—the Black Rock King Attila. And..."
Whoooosh!
Attila swiftly assumed his stance, unleashing his aura in an instant.
This aura was incomparably more menacing than before.
"I am the one who will punish you filthy humans for daring to set foot in my territory."
Rooooar!
A heavy pressure like a massive boulder—no, an entire mountain range—crushed down on the surroundings.
"Ugh...?!"
"Wh-what is this...?"
"C-can't... move..."
An overwhelming weight incomparable to the aura Munjuk had exuded.
Neither the Latent Dragon Squad nor the Celestial Flower Squad could move freely under Attila's aura.
'This is... dangerous.'
Even Sophia, who aspired to become the next patriarch of the Lichtenauer Martial Clan, felt tension rising amid the colossal aura blanketing the battlefield.
Step!
"...So, this is your true power. Impressive."
Only Ian advanced a step further.
"Kehhehe! Even if you realize your foolishness now, it's far too late. I harbor not the slightest intent to forgive you humans who dared to humiliate me."
"Let me ask one thing."
In response to Attila's savage words laced with murderous intent, Ian fixed him with eyes even colder than before and spoke.
"They were surely your subordinates... Did you crave life so desperately that you devoured your own men to cling to it?"
Every member of the Celestial Flower Squad and Latent Dragon Squad who heard Ian's question shared the same thought.
What a utterly nonchalant question.
In this situation, it held no relevance or context—a foolish inquiry.
Time better spent searching for weaknesses.
Yet Ian never once averted his gaze, waiting for Attila's reply.
As if that answer mattered more than anything else.
"Gruruk! What an odd one. In a moment where your life could end, that's what piques your curiosity?"
Attila snorted at Ian's incongruous question but decided to indulge him.
After all, performing like a jester before the king warranted a modicum of mercy.
"This land is mine. Thus, all that exists upon it belongs to me, Attila. When the king's life teeters on the brink, must not loyal vassals offer their very bodies to save him?"
One corner of Attila's mouth curled upward in a long smirk.
"Munjuk was truly an exemplary vassal. He offered mystical elixirs for this body, captured humans as sacrifices—and in the end, sacrificed himself. As king, is it not natural to honor such loyalty?"
Though he wrapped it in fine words, everyone present could surmise the truth.
The troll king Attila had planted voodoo sorcery on his subordinate Munjuk from the start, preparing for just such an eventuality.
And kept it a strict secret from Munjuk himself.
Pawns on a chessboard do not think.
They are discarded the moment their utility ends, at the whim of the player.
That is the proper demeanor for a pawn.
"...I see."
Swish!
Ian pressed forward, shoving aside Attila's aura.
The Latent Dragon Squad members shuddered involuntarily at the sight.
Ian had battled Attila just moments ago, yet now something was different.
'...I've never seen him radiate murderous intent so viciously.'
It was murderous intent so dense it seemed visible to the naked eye.
"Congratulations. You've truly made me angry. And furthermore..."
Swish!
Glancing back at the Latent Dragon Squad, frozen stiff by Attila's aura, Ian turned his cold gaze to Attila once more.
"A king exists to protect his people—not to treat them as expendable pawns for his whims. You've failed the most fundamental virtue of kingship. In the absolute worst way."
That sin, starting right now.
I would etch it deep into his soul, beyond even his bones.
Of course, Attila's soul had only one destination today.
"I'll send you to hell."
Shing!
Attila sneered as Ian drew his sword.
"Hahaha, that seems beyond your capabilities."
Dismissing Ian's threat lightly, Attila commanded his trolls.
"These worms dared defile the king's domain. Slay them all."
"Grurrrr!"
"Kill them, kill them!"
"Tch, these monster bastards!"
Even as the battle reignited from its lull, Ian's eyes remained locked solely on Attila.
"Whether it's possible or not, I'll decide."
Ian's hands began to swirl with dazzling brilliance.
Chrarararak!
Two sinister serpents flicked their tongues and lunged toward the enemy.
However.
"Hmph."
Sneering, Attila deflected the strikes of Daesa and Sosa, then twisted his waist backward.
Like compressing a coiled spring.
Boom!
The pent-up force rippled from his legs through his waist and into his arms, erupting from Attila's spear toward Ian's neck.
"!"
Thud-thud-thud!
Behind the evading Ian, the cave wall was pierced in a perfect circle matching the spear shaft.
Not deflected from impact, but literally impaled.
As if thrusting into soft cotton rather than stone.
Of course, clad in aura, even Ralph could manage it.
But moments ago.
Attila had achieved it with raw physical strength alone.
'Insane muscle power.'
"Hahahahaha!"
Attila, delighted with his new body, erupted in ceaseless mad laughter.
"Excellent, truly excellent! Unlike my frail, diseased flesh, this is a warrior's true form!"
His loyal vassal, Munjuk.
His body was truly extraordinary.
If allowed to grow further, it held the potential to surpass even his own prime.
Which meant.
'With this body, I can exact revenge on that damned iron-masked bastard.'
Not just the Iron Mask.
He could deliver judgment upon the Magic Tower humans who had vilely ambushed him during his injuries.
'Once that's all settled...'
He might break free from this cramped Birch Forest and rise as a new dominant force in the Great Floodplains.
"Daydreaming mid-battle? Quite leisurely of you."
Wheeeeeeng!
A sound like a swarm of bees buzzed in Attila's ears.
Sophia's chakram, now entering the fray, zeroed in on his neck.
"Tch, undisciplined wench."
Daring to interrupt the king's musings.
Death would be too lenient.
Kwauk!
Attila speared the center of the incoming chakram.
It snagged on his spear like a hooked disc.
Spin!
Whirling the spear with great force, Attila swung the shaft at Sophia.
"I'll return this toy."
Wheeeeeeng!
The chakram rocketed back even faster than Sophia's throw.
"Tch!"
Sophia clicked her tongue sharply and lashed her whip at the chakram's edge.
The deflected chakram veered off course, shredding the trolls in its new path indiscriminately.
"Kraaaaa!"
"Aaaagh!"
Even trolls with exceptional regeneration wailed like that—evidence enough of the gruesome scene unfolding behind.
No, Sophia had foreseen this carnage from the outset.
Tremble tremble!
The hand gripping the whip that struck the chakram shook uncontrollably.
'Just a light deflection caused this much recoil...'
She ought to be grateful no squad members lay in the chakram's path.
"Where are you looking?"
Thud!
Attila launched himself at Sophia.
'Fast!'
Sophia whipped out in panic as Attila closed the gap in a single bound.
Chwajajajak!
A whip twisted from sea serpent hide.
It thrashed wildly, poised to rend anything in its way.
But.
"Amateurish!"
Mocking Sophia's assault, Attila incanted.
"Darkness descends and shadows deepen, moss clings ever thicker to blackened stone!"
Rumble rumble!
Nearby rock piles coalesced, shielding Attila's body—Sophia's whip struck only harmless debris.
Kwaaang!
Ignoring the whip, Attila's charging fist slammed into Sophia's abdomen. A shell-like explosion echoed as her body cratered into the cave wall.
"Cough...!!"
Sophia vomited blood amid the crashing agony.
Attila did not idly watch her stagger to recover.
"Die."
Kwaaaaa!
Shoulder-first, Attila barreled into a brutal body slam.
"C-Captain!"
"Damn it! Someone block it—please!"
The Celestial Flower and Latent Dragon Squads were all entangled with trolls.
Thus, as no one dared intercept that terrifying charge.
Chiriririt!
Ian uncoiled Daesa, snaring Sophia's waist and yanking her free.
She escaped the wall by a razor-thin margin.
Kwaaaaaang!
Immediately after, a thunderclap roar erupted amid rising dust clouds.
A direct hit would have pulverized every bone.
"Th-thank you."
Perhaps realizing how close she'd come to death, Sophia's face paled as she thanked Ian.
Drip, drip!
From the settling dust.
Attila cracked his neck and rose from the cave wall.
"Boring, so boring. Is this the prowess that boasted of dragging me to hell?"
Munjuk's body was superb.
See now.
That whelp who mocked his chains earlier floundered helplessly.
Recalling his original body, fresh rage boiled in Attila.
A feeble shell that couldn't best even these runts.
Pathetic, the struggles he'd endured to reclaim such refuse.
Had he seized Munjuk's body from the beginning.
He could have healed swiftly and pulverized these filthy intruders.
And more.
Munjuk's mystical elixirs and sacrifices—all absorbed into this form.
Rebuilding his forces without pointless delay.
"I was unnecessarily stubborn. Well, can't be helped."
Swish!
Loosening his neck, Attila eyed Ian and Sophia.
"From now on, if I claim proper sacrifices with this body... I'll swiftly surpass my former heights."
Treating them as already in-hand offerings, Sophia bristled as Ian recoiled Daesa.
"That gaping maw still flaps...?!"
But Ian stepped forward first.
"Stay back, Captain Sophia."
"What? Second Young Lord, what do you mean! How do you intend to face that monster alone?!"
The troll king—that monster—was no foe for one person.
Even descendants of the Lichtenauer Martial Clan reaching lofty realms had limits.
Perhaps years from now, but presently, against the so-called 'true' monsters dwelling deep in the Great Floodplains, they fell short.
'Who knows, Eldest Young Lord Alex... he might manage it.'
All in the elite ranks knew.
Among the Lichtenauer Martial Clan's star-like warriors, they were prized geniuses.
Yet Alex the Eldest Young Lord stood one—no, two steps ahead.
Ian, mere Second Young Lord, challenging that beast solo?
Utter hubris.
Yet why.
"Sophia, I said I'd handle him alone."
Unlike before, addressing her informally, Ian's eyes blazed back at her like active volcanoes.
That gaze differed from any she'd witnessed.
Not Paon Lichtenauer's lofty, sky-like eyes, nor Alex Lichtenauer's arrogant, mountain-like stare.
Eyes like a world-engulfing tsunami.
"I won't repeat myself. Go aid the other squad members."