Chapter 43
Chapter 43
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 43
Chapter Title: The Mutated Dragon Sovereign
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With the fainted burns victim lying at his feet, Havel tapped the arm folded across his chest.
A spearman knelt before Havel's eyes.
Cold sweat poured down his face.
Since he needed to interrogate the man, Havel adjusted his presence to a level the spearman could sense.
A level so oppressive the man could barely breathe.
"Spearman, was it?"
"Y-yes."
The spearman barely managed to exhale as he answered.
"Tell me everything you know about the Whisperer."
"I-I'm just a lowly member. I don't know the details."
"Tell me what you do know."
The spearman swallowed hard.
Havel was a monster he couldn't hope to defeat.
But the six serpents who followed the Whisperer alongside him were monsters too.
If he spilled information here, he'd become a target for the six serpents.
But if he didn't talk, Havel would kill him.
Die now?
Or die later?
The dilemma didn't last long.
'The old hag and Moebius are still out there.'
The old hag had virtually no combat ability, so she wouldn't be much help.
But Moebius might be different.
He was a candidate for the seventh serpent, after all.
'Buy time with the bare minimum information.'
The moment he resolved himself—
Crack!
Havel's downward-swinging scabbard shattered the spearman's arm.
It happened so fast he couldn't even scream.
"Grraaagh."
"I can hear the gears turning in your head from here."
Havel poured a potion from his pocket onto the man's arm.
The liquid flowed in, rapidly restoring his arm in an instant.
It was a potion he'd obtained from the Demonic Palace.
One that refilled a certain amount each day, which he used frequently before.
It had been quite useful back then.
But ever since acquiring immortality, he'd only been using it on others like this.
As the spearman stared at his healed arm in shock, Havel gave a chilling smile.
"If your answer doesn't please me, we repeat the process."
The spearman gulped.
He wasn't sure if he could endure it.
After hearing the spearman's story in rough outline, Havel stroked his chin.
First off, even the spearman had never met the Whisperer in person.
He'd only encountered two of the Whisperer's direct subordinates, the six serpents.
But those six serpents were monsters whose presence couldn't be sensed, just like Havel.
'The reason these guys climbed the tower was to create a new serpent.'
Havel let out a slow, hollow chuckle.
Because he'd realized the Whisperer's goal.
'Just like I became the master of the Demonic Palace, he wants to create masters of calamities.'
Becoming a calamity's master would allow them to absorb calamities, just like him.
In other words, it meant mass-producing people like himself.
'Does that mean there are already six like me out there, even excluding the Whisperer right now?'
Havel glanced at the spearman.
The man had said they felt similar to the serpents.
At the spearman's level, he couldn't accurately gauge Havel's strength.
But there might really be guys on par with him.
Absorbing calamities had made Havel grow that much faster and stronger, after all.
A cold smile crept across Havel's lips.
Even hearing that rivals who could match him existed.
He couldn't suppress the grin leaking out.
Above all, there was the Whisperer, whom even those serpent bastards followed.
This world was still vast indeed.
'Transcendence feels even more necessary now.'
Havel checked the remaining time until transcendence of strength.
It would still take a little longer.
"No more comrades? Is that what you're saying?"
"Yes. I joined hoping to become a serpent myself."
The spearman answered while cradling his arm protectively.
Judging by his demeanor, it seemed there might be more comrades.
But his resolve to keep his mouth shut under torture deserved some respect.
Whatever. It didn't matter anyway.
Time was up.
"Lord Havel!"
"Y-you bitch, let go of this old man! Don't you know to respect your elders?!"
At that moment, Elasia's voice rang out alongside an old man's.
As the spearman's face drained of color,
Elasia dragged an old woman along, trapped in her magic.
She'd captured another comrade hiding on Giant's Isle.
"No comrades?"
Havel turned to the spearman.
Then he decided to ask one more thing.
"Tell me. Are there more comrades?"
The man's eyelids twitched violently before he squeezed his eyes shut.
He'd resolved himself to death.
"......None."
"Right."
Havel stared at him impassively, then tilted his head.
"Why close your eyes?"
"Pardon?"
He belatedly opened them again.
And wore a dumbfounded expression.
Because he'd expected Havel to kill him.
"You're not going to kill me?"
"Why would I? I've got no real grudge against the Whisperer."
Havel had captured them purely out of curiosity.
To gauge his current state, he'd chased them down.
Of course, the key was a factor too.
"Th-then why attack us in the first place."
"You attacked first."
They'd come at him, so he'd countered.
Since it seemed like something to keep secret, he'd interrogated them.
The methods were harsh, but he wasn't one to hold back once he started.
Havel simply achieved his goal.
"What, you want me to kill you?"
"N-no, sir."
As if he'd want to die.
The spearman shook his head vigorously.
"Even if you don't talk, there are others."
He still had two more to question.
"I know your eyes are open."
Havel called over the burns victim still underfoot.
The man flinched.
"The spearman spilled quite a bit."
Havel alternated his gaze between the old woman and the burns victim.
"I'm curious how much your story will differ."
"......How about a deal?"
At that moment, the burns victim spoke up.
The old woman cried out as if to stop him, but it was too late.
The burns victim had no intention of meeting the same fate as the spearman.
"I'll connect you with the serpents. What do you say?"
Havel seemed interested in the Whisperer.
He'd realized from the start they couldn't handle this guy.
If they were going to spill everything under interrogation anyway,
better to have him meet the serpents directly.
"Ugh, Burns! What are you doing?!"
The old woman had told him not to do anything reckless.
But she hadn't faced Havel directly, which was why she reacted like that.
He said he wouldn't kill them,
but who knew when his mood might change.
So it was better to sway his interest their way.
"You know well how to extend your leash."
It wasn't a bad deal for Havel.
Boom!
At that instant,
a massive rumble echoed from the mountain side of Giant's Isle.
"As expected of you idiots. Fine. I'll handle it."
"Old hag, don't tell me—"
The spearman turned to her.
The old woman trapped in magic let out a cackling laugh.
"You think you can block the mutated calamity beast born from external calamities flowing in while we're captured?"
Kaboom!
At that moment, the active volcano on Giant's Isle erupted.
Thick black volcanic ash billowed up, and storm clouds gathered.
An absurdly massive presence emanated from the volcano.
A presence so overwhelming it buried even the erupting volcano.
The old woman's eyes flew wide open.
Meanwhile, the spearman and burns victim's faces turned ashen.
It was all because of Havel's prowess.
"Burns, was it?"
Havel cracked his neck lightly.
Then he looked at the burns victim and said,
"I'll take the deal. Keep him safe."
"You fool, Burns! Now's our chance! Kill that woman first!"
"Shut it, old hag."
Even Burns, whose usual words and actions differed, was unified in this moment.
In the meantime, Havel lightly stepped away.
In an instant, he raced to the volcano and glared at the fleeing calamity beasts.
The presence emanating from the volcano was indeed the strongest among any calamity beast he'd faced so far.
The old woman had said it was a mutated one created by infusing other calamities.
She must have some unique ability.
'I'll ask about that later.'
Havel peered into the volcanic ash.
Suddenly, a wriggling presence stirred from deep within.
Whoosh!
In that instant, Havel's hand blade, swung before one knew it, cleaved through the ash.
Clang!
And what rang out was the clash of steel on steel.
"Definitely different. This is it."
Through the parted ash appeared a pitch-black calamity beast with a dragon's head on a human body.
Despite clearly swinging his hand blade moments ago, the creature was unscathed.
The beast rolled its six eyes.
Soon, it fixed its gaze on Havel.
"Graaaargh!"
The calamity beast bellowed as if to shatter the world.
Volcanic ash whipped up in its roar and flew away.
The sea below churned like a tsunami.
As Havel confronted the Dragon Sovereign,
down at the base of the isle, Burns carried the old hag and spearman,
hurrying off the island alongside Elasia.
The old hag's face, slung over his arm, had gone deathly pale.
She could feel the calamity beast's power tingling even here.
"Wh-what is this? The mutated calamity beast I summoned with the key shouldn't be this strong!"
The old hag couldn't comprehend the situation at all.
Mutated calamity beasts born from mixing calamities were powerful.
But no matter how you sliced it, not this powerful.
This was a catastrophe.
If a beast like this had been unleashed outside,
several nations would have fallen—a disaster of that scale.
"Old hag, remember that?"
Burns scratched at his throat while running with her on his hip.
"The Primordial Three Calamities like the tower adjust their difficulty based on the climber."
"Who do you take me for, an amnesiac? Of course I remember."
As she snapped back, wondering why bring it up now,
her face gradually hardened.
The old hag, spearman, and Burns knew the tower's difficulty had risen recently.
But they'd chalked it up entirely to Moebius.
The heads of the Five Great Families had neglected the tower as well.
They figured no one stronger than serpent candidate Moebius would climb it.
But today, Burns had met one man.
Havel, who was as strong as a serpent.
"Don't tell me that calamity beast appeared because of that guy just now?"
"Look at us? We got wrecked without doing a thing."
"He's a monster."
Burns and the spearman reacted with equal dread.
Watching their response, the old hag was quite surprised.
These two had strong pride, after all.
They even stuck their chins out before Moebius.
To so readily acknowledge a man they'd just met.
"What kind of monster is he?"
"Beats me."
Burns glanced aside in frustration.
Next to him flew Elasia, propelling herself with magic.
The only woman Havel had brought along.
She might know something.
As all three turned to her, Elasia flinched.
Truth be told, she didn't know much either.
But having the edge in information could put one above others.
Recently pushed around by Havel, Elasia wanted that advantage over these three at least.
Revealing her prickly nature, she put on a smug expression.
"Havel of the Banpellyon family. That's all I can tell you."
In truth, that was all she knew.
But she made a meaningful face, as if there was more.
These three knew they couldn't touch her with Havel around.
"Havel... and Banpellyon."
And her acting worked.
The three quietly mulled over the name.