Chapter 72
Chapter 72
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: The Serpent Temple 3
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This time, too, the Count stepped forward, blocking Azadin's path with his body.
The moment the arrow exploded, another arrow flew straight to the exact same spot. It was an arrow that chased right on the tail of the first one. It had been aimed to strike precisely when the Count's magic triggered the first arrow's detonation.
‘A fine attempt! But!’
The Count's magic converged, detonating the second arrow as well.
“Haha! Ah!?”
The Count burst into laughter, but a third arrow came flying to the same position. The arrow slipped through before the magical barrier could fully form, striking the Count squarely in the mouth.
“Nice!”
Azadin cheered, but the Count rolled backward and rose to his feet.
“Hahaha. Impressive. Truly remarkable, Herald. What astonishing skill!”
The Count's mouth had been torn open, but soon a serpent's tongue flicked out from within.
-Crackle-crunch!
His body began to shatter.
“It hurts! It hurts! A human would have died from that!”
“…….”
The Count began transforming into a naga covered in pure white scales. Meanwhile, Azadin was getting a headache.
‘Damn it. Should've targeted a different naga.’
He had fired the shot just to test whether the Count could block a three-shot volley. In the end, his quiver was now empty, yet the Count had avoided a fatal wound and was transforming. It was a monster far larger than the other nagas, with four arms.
Its upright torso alone was the size of an ogre, and there was the wound Azadin had inflicted on its mouth. It might have been lethal to a human, but to him, it was merely a deep gash.
“To wound me. Be proud, Herald!”
With those words, the Count picked up the sword leaning against the wall.
He gripped the massive two-handed greatsword—near the limit of what a human could wield—in one hand, while taking a bronze torch stand in the other and thrusting it at Azadin like a spear.
The giant statue made the height unreachable for ordinary people, but the enormous naga the Count had become could strike it. Azadin flipped through the air to dodge the Count's attack, then, while airborne, released the bowstring, slung the bow to his waist, and performed an acrobatic feat.
“Oh ho, impressive!”
The Count grew excited by Azadin's agility.
‘This is bad. No arrows left—what now?’
Even the top of the statue was no longer safe.
With no arrows and the naga sorcerers' spells slowly rousing mummy soldiers, staying here to fight was pointless and dangerous.
Time to retreat. Climbing back up the way he came, untrained folk or simple mummy soldiers wouldn't be able to follow. He could shake them using the terrain.
But doing so would mean...
‘The refugees die.’
Opening the underground passage door would lead to the refugee camp outside. The refugees who had fled to Sarasm due to the drought would be slaughtered, their blood becoming sustenance for these creatures.
The blood dripping from the blood pool was soaking the mummy soldiers' bodies, strengthening them. It seemed activating the mummy soldiers required vast amounts of blood.
“No choice!”
Azadin leaped down from the statue, landing on the ground.
“Haha. Remarkable! You won't run—you mean to fight?”
The Count was impressed by Azadin abandoning the safe high ground to charge down.
“Let's see what you've got!”
As the Count swung his sword in attack, Azadin dodged with nimble movements.
-*‘Flower-Bird-Wind-Moon Twilight Kazas Hex!’*
A signature illusion technique of the Heralds. But Azadin scattered multiple afterimages with his footwork, evading the Count's blade.
-*‘Flower-Bird-Wind-Moon Duskfall Kazas Hex!’*
Then he closed in instantly. But the Count blocked Azadin's strike with the torch stand.
-Clang!
Azadin's swung longsword sliced through the bronze torch stand, sparks flying. Riding the momentum, Azadin slashed at the Count's torso, but the naga countered by whipping its tail, batting Azadin away. Blood sprayed as Azadin's body flew into the air.
“Huh!”
The Count was impressed. He had clearly struck with his tail, yet felt no impact. Azadin had twisted midair to minimize the blow.
-Thud!
Azadin flipped backward through the air, reoriented himself, and landed. But...
-Drip...
Blood trickled from Azadin's nose as well. To the Count, it was barely a sensation in his tail, but to Azadin, it felt like colliding with a charging bull. Even with the impact softened, it still hurt.
“Hmm.”
Azadin wiped the nosebleed with his hand and inspected his longsword.
The blade was dulled.
It had cut through the bronze torch stand and scored the Count's torso, tearing scales and drawing blood, but to the Count, it was just a scrape. The size and depth would be fatal to a human, but against that massive frame, it meant little.
‘The sword was pretty useful. Should've brought a few more, but infiltration limits how many weapons you can carry.’
Normally, Azadin loaded his kerim goat with weapons, but stealth missions restricted that. The problem was, what good were spare weapons if he died here?
*********
While Azadin fought the Count, the naga sorcerers succeeded in raising about eight mummy soldiers.
-Grrrrr!
“Help the Count!”
A mummy soldier awakened by the naga sorcerers charged at Azadin.
The soldiers swung crude, iron-plate-like swords with savage ferocity, black curse aura billowing from their bodies like mist. They were spreading a curse of weakness as they advanced.
“Ugh!”
Azadin slid across the ground to dodge the charging mummy soldier's attack, then cleaved its torso with his sword. But it felt like slicing a sandbag—the mummy, flank torn open, simply turned back around.
Blood from the pool absorbed into the severed part, filling it in. That was the purpose of the blood pool they had created—for repairing these mummy soldiers.
‘Damn! The sword...’
As Azadin worried about his blade, another mummy soldier lunged. No time to dodge. In desperation, he kicked the approaching mummy.
Contact with the curse-emitting body allowed black magic to seep into Azadin.
-Bam!
The kick nearly tore the mummy soldier's neck vertebrae out—a brutal strike. But Azadin took damage too.
“Urk!”
Fortunately, Azadin's magic resistance was extremely high, so he suffered little, but even he knew engaging in close-quarters brawls with mummy soldiers was foolish.
“Hmm!”
The Count had to step back to avoid harming his painstakingly created mummy soldiers. As a massive naga, joining the fray would crush them underfoot.
Meanwhile, the nagas kept awakening more mummy soldiers.
‘Need to take out the sorcerers...’
Azadin dodged the charging mummies and tried closing in on the nagas. But the nagas shifted to serpent form, slithering deftly between the mummies while continuing their spells to raise more soldiers.
‘Fighting here any longer is too risky. But running...’
Azadin glanced up at the wall he'd climbed. The enlarged Count could swat him off with torch or sword faster than he could climb.
As the mummy soldiers slowly encircled Azadin, the Count began to gloat. He believed he had him cornered now.
“Heh. Feeling like talking now, Herald? How about it? Serving me? Still no change of heart?”
“Hmm. Serve you, you say? Kill people alongside these mummies? And in return? Feed me well? Sleep with naga women? Doesn't sound all that appealing.”
“Then why fight here instead of fleeing?”
“To prevent civilian casualties.”
“Civilians? The refugees? That trash? Why? Do they hold that much value?”
“I don't want my world filled only with undead.”
“Even though it's not yours?”
“You lot only feel it's yours once you've conquered and claimed it. What a vulgar, narrow worldview.”
“You lot?”
The Count realized Azadin was overlaying him with someone else he knew.
“I call the world mine without needing to conquer it.”
“Pathetic. That's just a loser's self-consolation for failing to conquer anything. Hm?”
The Count saw Azadin, arrowless, drawing his bow and nocking the string again.
“What do you plan to do?”
“You gave me a moment to chat and recover some stamina. This!”
In that instant, Azadin hooked his held longsword onto the bowstring and fired it backward without looking.
-Thunk!
The blade pierced the chest of a naga sorcerer who had let her guard down.
“Kyaaak!”
“S-Sis!”
The naga's scream startled the other sorcerer. Even a dulled blade, launched with terrifying force, had pierced the naga's chest, inflicting a mortal wound.
Even more astonishing was Azadin's bow firing a far heavier sword than an arrow at such speed, and his freakish archery hitting with pinpoint accuracy despite the irregular projectile.
“You bastard!”
The Count flew into a rage. He had been coveting Azadin, only for him to critically wound his naga lover. Just as the furious Count lunged at Azadin—
“Here!”
An arrow rained down from above, smashing into the Count's skull. A blonde girl dangled upside down from a rope, having descended from the blood pool into the underground passage, firing arrows inverted.
“You alive, Azadin?”
“Yeah! Told you not to come...”
“Grateful I did?”
“Thank you! Damn it!”
Azadin was grateful for Midiam's support. He'd told her to wait outside, but she'd followed on her own. Still, it gave him an opening for counterattack.
“Such insolence!”
Midiam's arrows flew at the Count, but her bow couldn't pierce his thick scales.
“Midiam! Arrows as ammo!”
“Yes!”
Midiam switched targets at Azadin's call, firing at him.
“Have you gone mad?”
Even the enraged Count momentarily froze, staring. But Azadin snatched Midiam's arrow midair, nocked it to his bow, and fired backward.
The arrow struck the naga sorcerer with far greater speed and power than when Midiam had loosed it.
“Kyaaak!”
“Rapid fire!”
“You sure you can catch them?!”
Midiam questioned as she unleashed a volley at Azadin. He kicked up the first arrow with his foot, snatched the second and fired at the naga, then grabbed the kicked-up first and fired again.
The arrow that crushed a charging mummy soldier's skull embedded into another naga sorcerer. Azadin was zeroing in on the ones raising the mummies.