Chapter 38
Chapter 38
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 38
Chapter Title: Festival of Receiving Flesh
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“I’ll handle this side myself!”
A skeleton crafted from the lich’s finger bones charged straight at me. Instinctively spotting Asad about to rush over and help, I shouted at him.
If Asad came this way to save me, the positioning we’d carefully held up until now would collapse.
The lich would shake off its temporary movement constraints and go on a rampage, forcing us to scramble a new formation—from one that put us at a severe disadvantage.
Asad caught my intent from my shout. He hesitated for a moment, glancing at me, then nodded and turned back to engage the lich.
Chaeng-!
⚡ SKILL ACTIVATED ⚡
Thrill-Ter
Using Thrill-Ter one more time to interrupt the lich’s casting, the skeletons closed in right up to me at the same moment.
Whether because they were made directly from the lich’s own body or thanks to whatever was inscribed in that mysterious magic circle...
For skeletons, their movements were unnaturally swift.
I yanked back the Keseff Heyrel I’d extended toward the lich for Thrill-Ter, retrieving it, while simultaneously stepping back with my left foot.
Planting that left foot as my pivot and base, I gripped the Keseff Heyrel tight and swung it upward in a massive uppercut arc.
Paaaaang-!
Made of silver that would normally be far too soft on its own, the Keseff Heyrel still packed the mass of a small siege weapon.
With a sound like a bomb detonating, fragments from the skeleton’s exploded upper body pelted the arena like shotgun pellets.
“Waaaaaaah-!”
The crowd erupted in cheers at the explosive spectacle.
One skeleton in the swing’s main path had vanished from the pelvis up, as if bitten clean off by some massive beast in a single chomp. Another at the start of the uppercut arc had its shin bones to pelvis slashed apart, thrashing helplessly on the ground.
‘Whew-!’
The recoil from the swing nearly launched my body airborne; I barely controlled it with mana.
The Keseff Heyrel weighed around 70kg, while I was barely into the early 50s.
On top of that, its center of mass was heavily weighted toward the head, so even compensating with strength and mana, fully suppressing the backlash after a swing was impossible.
In the brief moment I spent fighting that recoil—putting me in something close to the hitstun of a fighting game—the remaining two skeletons latched onto my body.
Kwajik-!
‘—It hurts!’
Pain exploded, white sparks bursting before my eyes.
I’d twisted to block one with my armor somehow, but the other sank its teeth into my flesh.
⚙ Goddess Message ⚙
—Arjen!
Watching the skeleton clamped onto my body and gnawing, the Goddess let out a scream.
⚙ Goddess Message ⚙
—How dare it!
Sure, she said that, but there was nothing the Goddess could actually do. I wished she’d just quietly munch on her popcorn instead.
I appreciated the concern, but it was noisy for no reason.
It hurt, sure, but it was just a skeleton biting a non-vital spot.
It looked pathetic having the skeleton hanging off me, but it wasn’t that serious a situation.
“Where do you think you’re going.”
With the gnawing skeleton still clinging to me, I thrust the Keseff Heyrel back toward the lich and chanted Thrill-Ter.
As mana drained from my body, the lich’s spell shattered once more before it could even form.
Maybe it hadn’t expected me to pull off a spell interrupt while saddled with a skeleton.
As the spell aimed at Asad crumbled, the lich—no way to read an undead’s expression, but it somehow felt deeply rattled.
Kroooo-!
“Waaaaaaah-!”
Asad’s shamshir, sanctified with silver coating potion and my blessing, smashed into the lich’s forearm bone.
It didn’t cleave through, but with a sharp clang!, black dust erupted, shattering and flinging one side of the forearm.
The lich’s eerie wail and the crowd’s cheers exploded in unison.
『■■■-!』
I couldn’t understand it, but it was pissed off, no doubt.
Seeing the enraged lich, I twisted my lips into a smirk.
The lich had thrown a desperate counter to reverse our slowly grinding advantage, but that last exchange clearly favored us.
I still had two buffed skeletons latched on, but aside from the stinging bites feeling gross, they weren’t much of a threat.
Or so I thought.
『■■■■■-!』
The furious lich wheeled toward me, extending an index finger as it began chanting something.
And then.
——! ————!
⚙ Goddess Message ⚙
—Aaaaaaaaah!
My body convulsed wildly, tinnitus ringing in my ears. At the same instant, the Goddess’s horrific scream pierced through—something far too precious for revelation, her highest tool.
‘...What the hell just happened?’
My balance wobbled unsteadily.
Scarlet blood dripped steadily onto the floor.
‘Ah. Shit.’
They really pulled out all the stops.
Taking in the blood pooling on the ground, my shattered armor, the burning pain across my body, and the bone shards embedded deep, I pieced it together.
[Corpse Explosion].
The lich had detonated the skeletons clinging to my body.
“Cough-!”
⚙ Goddess Message ⚙
—Arjen! Heal right now! Right now!
“...It’s not worth making such a fuss over.”
Some bone shards had pierced organs, causing internal bleeding, and torn flesh dangled loosely.
Not instantly fatal, and my brain was intact.
It hurt like hell, but not enough to kill.
⚙ Goddess Message ⚙
—This isn’t the time for bravado!
Even so, as the Goddess said, I had no spare moments to redirect its next spell toward Asad.
I yanked out bone shards roughly, gathered the ragged flesh, and chanted the Blessing of Recovery.
The wounds closed rapidly, as if time itself rewound.
‘At least its external healing performance is overwhelmingly top-tier.’
Only my torn clothes and bloodstains remained as proof I’d been hurt moments ago; my skin was now flawless.
The minor bone fragments still lingering inside... well, they’d sort themselves out.
Not like lead bullets; bone shards should get absorbed into calcium over time or whatever.
With my body rapidly restored, my gaze shifted to Asad.
‘Damn, that really hurt.’
“But I bet it’s hurting even worse over there, right?”
Honestly, this level of sacrificial tanking went beyond my intentions, but at least my temporary partner hadn’t let that sacrifice go to waste.
『■■■■■—!!!』
The lich was shrieking in agony (probably).
It had paid the price for recklessly casting Corpse Explosion on me, leaving its back completely exposed.
Asad tore into the lich’s back like a hound ripping at a prey’s throat.
Every swing of his sanctified shamshir—with silver potion and blessing—sent black energy spraying wildly into the air like dust from pulverized stone.
Forcing it to tear its gaze from me, the lich swung its massive war scythe to drive Asad off.
Asad leaped back lightly, and his eyes met mine.
His usually emotionless face now showed complex feelings.
I held out my palm, signaling I was fine.
“Uoooooooh—!”
“Wheeeeek! Wheeeeek-!!”
“Kill it!!”
Unlike the earlier probing skirmishes, that last clash was clear enough even for novices to grasp.
Cheers mixed with whistles as the arena’s heat skyrocketed.
Less than a minute since the lich’s desperate gambit, its composing mana visibly destabilized.
The spirit body had taken a real hit.
Spirit-form monsters were tough to fell with raw physical force alone, but since mana formed their core existence, damage there weakened them instantly.
For such beings, mana was blood, nerves, muscle, bone—everything.
Though this lich was closer to a semi-spirit with unremarkable bones as frame, the key was still its mana.
With no recovery means like mine, the tide had clearly turned in our favor.
‘Should’ve just gone for the kill shot properly.’
It had banked on giving flesh to take bone, but miscalculated the damage while I fully recovered—ending up just offering itself up.
『■■■—!』
It spat what seemed like rage, but lacked its prior momentum.
The mist domain from Thrill-Purga now encroached on the lich’s territory instead.
『■■■■—!』
Then the lich’s aura shifted.
Anger laced with thick resentment.
Experience told me: when an enemy radiated that vibe, better to end it fast, no matter the cost.
‘Hm.’
Three options sprang to mind instantly.
One I dismissed as meh.
Another was powerful and reliable, but extended the attrition war.
Not ideal when aiming for a swift finish to prevent cornered desperation.
That left...
‘First time using it since floor 22.’
I channeled mana into an unused circuit path in the Keseff Heyrel.
Taang-! Chachik-!
The mana flowed to the chamber, detonating one embedded holy bullet cartridge.
The staff spat its casing as mana dyed with the cartridge’s holy power erupted explosively.
‘...Not a sensation I ever want to get used to.’
Coaxing the rampaging mana racing through the staff’s circuits felt like electricity surging through every nerve.
My whole body burned hot as I uttered a single blessing on my lips.
"[Xiang-Dike-Thrill-Exterfatus]"
⟨ Holy Cross Smite ⟩
As the incantation took form, the wild mana inside the staff coalesced into shape.
Using the Keseff Heyrel as its frame, the massively swelling mana became a radiant giant cross of light.
『■■■■■—! ■■!!』
Hey, I can’t understand you anyway, so quit yelling by yourself.
I gripped the Keseff Heyrel’s haft, heavier than ever.
As the lich gawked vacantly at the cross, Asad’s form blurred beside it.
“Be quiet.”
The colossal cross of light engulfed the lone lich.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Did they get it!?”
Damn, who the hell was that.
I slammed the lich with Xiang-Dike-Thrill-Exterfatus just as an ominous resurrection chant rang from the stands.
“Ooooooh!”
“Wheeeeek! Wheeeeek!”
“Look over here!”
I glared at the source of the grating voice in the crowd, but the spectators who met my eyes just whistled louder in delight.
Thankfully, struck by the nogada in its weakened state, the lich’s spot was cleanly erased—as if nothing had been there. Like the spotless deaths I’d seen in Wolfram’s room a few times, not even an orb left behind.
“Magnificent! Arjen and Asad al-Jawhari have triumphed over a mighty foe! Applause for these brave warriors who showed us a grand battle!”
The Goddess of War and Victory’s declaration sent the arena boiling over once more.
Amid the cheers, I let out a weary sigh.
“Haa...”
Maybe because I’d spent so long messing around below my skill level.
It’d been ages since I’d been pushed this hard.
I wanted to demand overtime pay.
“You should cover up.”
As I inwardly grumbled about the unpaid extra work, Asad approached slowly and draped his outer cloak over me.
“Ah.”
Only then did I assess my clothing situation.
The corpse explosion had left it in quite the ragged state.
Some miracle had preserved coverage of the truly vital bits, at least.
⚙ Goddess Message ⚙
—Once your goddess reclaims her old powers someday, I’ll hurl those vulgar fools into the abyss.
Listening closely, I caught a hint of teasing in her words.
No wonder the stares during the fight felt off.