Chapter 353: The Lost World (8)

"Kr... krrr!"

Maybe it was the side effect of excessive possession, but some gremlins trembled violently, blood dribbling from their mouths. However, their movements only became more violent.

A skeleton soldier staggered and fell backward.

Kwaaang!

Five gremlins, their bodies leaking inky-black energy, lunged forward and swung their picks.

"Kao!"

"Kaooo!"

Vwoom!

I narrowly dodged the diagonal swing and brought my sword down from above. In that brief instant, a gremlin whipped its pick back up for another strike.

Clang!

Its reflexes far surpassed anything the gremlin species should have been capable of. Even if their potential had exploded, they still weren't comparable to the imperial guards I'd faced at the graveyard. My stats were much higher now. There was no way I would be helpless as I was back then.

I aimed straight for its neck. Even without swordsmanship skills, I still knew how to move.

Kikik! Krrrk!

Knowing and executing were different things. The gremlin hooked my blade with the edge of its pick, yanked back with brute force, and swung again.

Boom!

Damn it.

I leaped back before the blow landed, but while I was airborne, it hurled the pick at me.

The spinning pick smashed one of my ribs and sent me rolling across the ground. It wasn't a lethal hit, but the fact that a mere gremlin had overpowered me left a shock that stung more than the injury.

"Kyaaa!"

Another gremlin rushed in and brought down a pick drenched in darkness. I raised my sword in time, but I couldn't withstand its power.

The pick struck my shoulder, and bone fragments burst outward.

[Warning! Health has fallen below 80%!]

I pushed myself up, swung the hilt like a club, and smashed it into the gremlin's head. The creature collapsed, and I sliced from its belly down to its thigh. Black blood sprayed forth.

The gremlin lurched back to its feet, so I yanked my sword across its half-severed neck. It was a clean, perfect strike—yet the neck didn't come off. It dangled there, barely attached.

Resilient bastard.

The gremlins' blackened eyes weren't the only change. Their skin and flesh had hardened, far tougher than before.

Crunch!

While I hesitated for an instant, the soldiers who had given me room to fight one on one were being shattered under the gremlins' picks. They had paid the price so that I wouldn't be surrounded.

The orc skeletons had their arms ripped off by the rabid gremlin swarm, and their legs were smashed apart by the repeated strikes.

Clang! Clang!

A troll skeleton, battered from constant blows, staggered and toppled backward.

1004, the troll skeleton, tried to roll away with surprising agility, but several gremlins grabbed its ankles and refused to let go. Dozens of picks slammed down at once, and 1004 retreated, missing everything below its shins.

"Watch out!"

Shrrrk!

Gilaut's performance, by contrast, was overwhelming.

Was he always this strong?

He moved along the circular ward, covering every opening, but even he couldn't face all of them. He snatched up the pick that had broken my ribs and hurled it at the gremlins chasing 1004.

Kwaaak!

The pick buried itself in the chest of the leading gremlin. Black veins pulsed before it crashed to its knees.

A message suddenly appeared, indicating that 1004's Affection had increased.

Crack!Crunch-crunch!

Meanwhile, over a dozen gremlins dragged off a lone orc skeleton. It resisted until the end, but sheer weight and numbers crushed it. They dismantled it instantly and kicked its shattered skull hard. The skull struck the cave wall and rolled away into the darkness.

Clatter... clatter...

The sound of bone scattering snapped my mind back together.

Kill them...

I had to kill every one of these possessed gremlins.

There's no other way.

I was weak, and I had no magic for fighting multiple enemies. This could be the end for me. I could already imagine meeting Gith-Za-Rai again under the same circumstances.

No. I won't let that happen.

She had told me to die and meet her again, but she also gave me Gilaut for protection. If I died here in a place like this... I'd be ashamed to face her. I had to somehow escape.

Crunch!

Another gremlin smashed apart a skeleton. Even while I drifted into thought, the battle continued. Our numbers were dropping quickly.

Have I really lost everything?

My stats and skills had all been stripped away. I was weaker, but the techniques remained in memory. A sword's power depended on who wielded it. My skeleton was no different.

Remember.

I tried to remember how I moved. I could almost hear the duke whispering beside me.

Goodness, how sloppy. What are you trying to do? Focus on the tip of your blade.

I stepped two paces out of the protective circle and thrust forward. The moment I stepped outside, two attacks came from both sides. A pick grazed my arm with a hair's breadth to spare.

Choose. Focus.

His voice echoed in my mind like a resonance. I charged straight into the cluster of gremlins radiating killing intent and black energy. Isolated, I felt strangely clear.

[Warning! Health has fallen below 60%!]

Picks scraped against me from every angle, scattering sparks of bone. Two ribs snapped in quick succession. Armor might have helped, but moving freely like this felt far better.

Shrrrk!

My blade pierced the hand of a gremlin trying to tear at me. I stepped back, pivoted, and cleanly sliced the neck of another gremlin as it lunged forward.

Shraaash!

Black blood burst upward like a small explosion. The spot I slipped out of was instantly swarmed by more gremlins. Behind me, I heard the soldiers Gith-Za-Rai had assigned to me falling one by one.

I didn't look back. I pressed forward.

Hohoho...

With every step I took forward, the duke's satisfied laughter echoed in my head. I dodged and deflected each attack that followed. I blocked five consecutive strikes and landed two counterthrusts, but they lacked the strength to finish the gremlin off.

Vwoom!

A pick swung past my chin by a hair. If I blocked in front, an attack came from behind. If I blocked the right, a shovel jabbed from the left, accompanied by grasping hands. My bones were scraped open, weapons pierced into me, and I couldn't even tell which parts had been damaged.

[Warning! Health has fallen below 40%!]

"Get back here!"

Gilaut's shout barely reached my ears. If I left even the smallest opening, I would be torn apart instantly. I pulled my blade out of a dead gremlin's neck and stabbed the one beside it.

At that moment, three picks clamped onto my sword. It was a coordinated move, as if they had planned it in advance. They knew how to fight.

"Kaooo!"

With my sword trapped, one hurled itself at me. I kicked it in the chest to push it away. Rolling across the ground, I yanked my sword free, rose, and spun, swinging in a wide arc.

Three pick handles snapped at once, and the arms wielding them were severed, falling to the floor. The gremlins possessed by the Demon King collapsed, spraying blood. The pitch-black smoke clinging to their eyes did not fade until the moment they stopped breathing, flickering darkly to the end.

A memory surfaced of the time I crossed blades with Marquis Leandro.

[Recovering Swordsmanship Lv. 1!]

"Kaaaah!" I roared.

Shrrk.

I slipped to the side and swept my blade upward with all my strength. The gremlin, bringing its pick down, split open, its insides spilling forward in wet clumps. The memory of slaying the Desert God gleamed over the cascading entrails.

The gremlins running behind tripped over the corpse, stumbling, and in that instant, I brought my blade down and cut another one apart. The flying picks overlapped with the scythes once wielded by the now-vanished Naneow.

[Skill Experience...]

[Perk: Number of Ruin activated!]

[Swordsmanship Experience has increased 6 times.]

[All combat and non-combat skill Experience have increased 6 times.]

[Swordsmanship Experience has increased 36 times...]

[Recovering Swordsmanship Lv. 2!]

I cut through the gremlin's screams, chests, and necks. Black blood sprayed in sticky arcs as messages flashed rapidly before my eyes.

[Level Up!]

[Remaining Points: 6]

Agility.

The moment I poured all my points into it, my blade grew noticeably faster. I no longer dodged by a hair's breadth. I simply moved faster than they could react.

The danger decreased, but maybe because of that, the explosive skill experience gain came to a halt.

Should I have waited?

Boom!

However, when a pick slammed into the ground right beside my foot, the regret evaporated. A state like before, that kind of immersion never came easily. If I had delayed raising my stats, my leg would have been impaled, and my movements crippled.

[Level Up!]

More messages appeared, faster and faster. My thrusts and slashes grew so rapid I wondered if the blade Isaac chose for me would have dulled already had it been anything but an artifact. Isaac's sword was so sharp that not even blood or fat clung to it. Even after slicing the bone repeatedly, the blade did not chip.

I pierced flesh, carved through hide, killed and kept killing, but the edge never dulled.

[Level...]

[Level Up!]

"You insane bastard! How many have you taken down by yourself?!" Gilaut shouted in disbelief as he dragged five badly-damaged soldiers toward me.

Even fighting side by side with them, I was different. Each level boosted my Strength and Agility, accelerating the slaughter.

Dodging became easier, and my strikes grew brutally stronger. What once merely cut through them now sent the gremlins flying, smashing into cave pillars.

[Dullahan Gilaut's Affection has increased by 6!]

[1002's Affection has increased by 2!]

[1083's Affection has increased by 3!]

[1021's Affection...]

Faint Affection notifications hovered over the five remaining soldiers.

The enemy had been wiped out. Rivers of black blood ran along the cave floor. I had killed at least thirty of them.

Status window.

[Health: 48 (New!)]

[Strength: 60 (New!)]

[Agility: 59 (New!)]

[Wisdom: 24]

[Swordsmanship Lv. 2]

The remaining perks allowed my stats to soar at an unbelievable pace. Aside from Gilaut with his Dark Swordsmanship, I was the overwhelming force on this battlefield. However, I felt no joy.

With every step, shattered bones from Gith-Za-Rai's entrusted soldiers crunched beneath my feet. Beyond my faint blue status window, the black eyes of the possessed corpses stared from their fallen bodies.

To be used even after death...

Disgust at the Demon King surged within me.

Shff.

I swept away the floating numbers.

"Why?"

The question escaped me. These gremlins had obeyed the Demon King's orders without complaint. They harvested shadow moss diligently. There had been no reason for them to die so pointlessly.

We only wanted to pass through, and we showed no hostility.

Just because I refused to let them carve a mark into me? Was that enough for this?

"I'm not sure. Maybe they wanted us to submit no matter what?" Gilaut said.

But surrendering would've gained them nothing.

"Gilaut, you were here too. They couldn't have been certain they would win."

Possession had pushed their potential to the limit, yes, but at their core, they were still gremlins. Throwing themselves at a skeleton army led by a Dullahan meant the best outcome they could hope for was a mutual slaughter. Yet, the killing intent I felt from behind them had been far beyond what anyone would use to force submission. It was strong enough to be vengeance.

"There must be something we're missing. We have to figure it out if we want to get through this cave."

We needed a precise response.

Clatter...

The exhausted soldiers collapsed where they stood, and I leaned back against a stone pillar. We had no idea what might attack next. We needed to rest while we could.

"Hmm..."

Gilaut tilted his head in confusion, then suddenly knelt down.

Tap.

Instead of answering, he rummaged through one of the corpses. "Their blood is strange."

"Strange?"

"Yeah. Sticky. Even though they're dead, something feels like it's still moving. Like billions of tiny bugs wriggling inside."

Shushush.

A faint hissing escaped a gremlin's severed neck.