Welcome to Hell!

Chapter 28: Long Night in the Capital (5)

The synthetic beast that was running towards me had a quite eerie appearance. It was a fusion of numerous creatures in a spiral pattern; they were so many that counting them became a daunting task. Various beasts’ heads and limbs grew haphazardly from its thick and long body. Its legs, which touched the ground, moved with a squishy sound as it advanced, demolishing several buildings along the way.

It constantly emitted screams and moans that sounded like nothing a living being could produce, coming from the many mouths covering its body. Although the mouths that seemed to be busy eating flesh were quiet, their sheer number made the noise unbearable.

“Gyuiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!”

The synthetic beast emitted a mixture of different cries, making it sound less like a creature and more like a monster. It was heading straight towards the district, apparently reacting to the strong light without any particular objective in mind. The Holy Knights seemed to know this and desperately tried to guide it with a powerful light-based spiritual art. However, it wasn’t very effective.

The Noble District was enveloped in flames and intermittent explosions of spiritual arts, making it as bright as day. It was impossible to exceed that brightness with the light created by just a few people.

“Stop! This monster!”

“GyuoOOOOOOOOO!!”

With every slash of the Holy Knights’ swords, the synthetic beast’s body was wounded, and green blood spurted out. It seemed unable to increase the strength of its skin, and controlling its fighting spirit and spiritual power was far from easy. However, whether it was instinctively healing all of its surplus resources or not, the wounds were healing in the slashed areas. Hence, the attacks seemed meaningless.

I was able to grow stronger by honing my technical skills, which is why I couldn’t fight like it did. It was surprisingly difficult to fight an opponent who fought purely on instinct. I had learned that the hard way.

“Gyuiiiiiiii!!”

The wounded synthetic beast staggered and caused nearby buildings to collapse. However, it immediately got up and swung its countless limbs, throwing rubble in all directions. Some of it flew toward me, but I knocked it all down with my tail. This simple rubble was of no threat to me.

The Holy Knights faced a similar situation, but they decided to halt their pursuit in an effort to avoid the rubble. However, despite not intending to exploit this opening, the synthetic beast continued to advance in a straight line. To make matters worse, the grave was located along the straight path ahead. Initially, my plan was to escape if the beast’s route had changed, but it appears that a confrontation was inevitable. Given the circumstances, there’s no other choice but to engage in battle. Oh well, let’s do it.

I heightened my spiritual power and converted the nearby debris into sand, deftly manipulating it to form four arms with large, five-fingered hands larger than the synthetic beast’s waist. While it would have been simpler to create pincers, I determined that human-like appendages would prove more advantageous against this particular foe.

The created arms were boneless and flexible like whips, moving with agility beyond their size. The four widely opened hands grabbed the synthetic beast, lifting it up and wringing it like a rag.

After cleaning the cage I was in, the slave used to wring the cloth like this often. Remembering it made me both sad and angry. It might have been unfair, but I was going to twist and kill this guy.

As I squeezed with all four arms and wrung it out, the body of the synthetic beast twisted and made a tearing sound. Screams filled the air from all its mouths, creating a jarring chorus.

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“Guuugyaaaaa!”

The synthetic beast had a high healing ability, but it seemed helpless once divided by brute force. I threw away the chunk of flesh that used to be the synthetic beast, which rained green blood like a downpour. The flying chunks of flesh landed on the ground, destroying a building and causing it to collapse.

While it was satisfying to vanquish my bothersome enemy, my triumph had been too ostentatious. My senses detected the approach of over 20 holy knights, effectively surrounding me in with no means of escape. They had encircled me with an airtight formation, leaving me with no option but to confront them head-on.

“There it is! Over there!”

“I didn’t know you were able to escape! Such cowardly and evil being!”

“That spiritual power from earlier should not be underestimated! Don’t let your guard down!”

The holy knights who had spotted me drew their swords while hurling insults. Though I had not actually run away but killed all of their comrades, I had no obligation to tell them that, nor had I any way to do so. Besides, it was doubtful whether they would believe me or not. Even if they did, they would only become angry and attack me…yes, it would be meaningless to do anything.

The holy knights had their cloaks stained with the blood of synthetic beasts, yet they did not seem to care about such a thing. More than ten of them attacked me with spiritual arts, while around four of them launched a simultaneous assault from all sides. Their cooperation was truly impressive, no matter how many times I saw it.

I intercepted their arts with my own, trapped their swords from both sides with my pincers, deflected the sword from behind with my tail, and used my exoskeleton to withstand the sword in front. Ugh…although I had reinforced my exoskeleton, it was still fragile compared to my pincers and tail. There were faint marks on my exoskeleton, and the impact reverberated throughout my body.

Being surrounded by so many enemies was undoubtedly difficult. Perhaps it was time to show them a grand trick. Fortunately, there were many enemies, so I didn’t need to worry about delicate control. I would go all out and break through their ranks.

As I gathered my spiritual power, the debris and ground surrounding me transmuted into sand. Sensing the immense energy I was about to unleash, my attackers briefly withdrew.

But their retreat was not a guarantee of safety, for they could still unleash spiritual attacks from a distance. True to form, they pelted me with a barrage of these attacks, yet I countered by erecting a wall of sand to deflect them.

“Cracking!”

“Tch! The footing’s getting worse! Be careful!”

“But that’s not enough! The holy knights won’t be stopped by that!”

“Get ready, you evil creature!”

As the holy knights grew impatient, they charged towards me once again. I had turned this area into a sand battlefield, but I couldn’t let them think that my spiritual powers were over just because of that. The real fun was about to begin.

As the holy knights kicked up the sand and advanced towards me, the sand around us rose up and took the form of two humanoid upper bodies without legs.

“This basta*d! My sword!”

“Anyway, those are not a threat! Destroy them!”

Two of the sand creatures had armed themselves with swords they stole from the holy knights. The faceless humanoid upper bodies slid smoothly across the sand towards the knights. While their spiritual attacks could be easily neutralized, their bodies were made of sand, and since I had coated the area with sand, there was an abundance of raw material for me to work with. Even if their forms were destroyed, I could easily repair them in an instant.

Furthermore, since their bodies were made of sand, they were not restricted by bone structure, joints, or muscles like real humans. The arms of the sand creatures could stretch and split apart, lashing out at the holy knights.

“This…ugh, how annoying!”

“Ugh! I’ve been sliced…!”

“Peppe! Did it get in my mouth!?”

Equipping a weapon was especially effective. It allowed the sand creatures to swing the sword from impossible angles for human beings and deliver sharp slashes even at awkward angles where it was hard to put your strength on. Skilled knights found it challenging to defend against attacks from unexpected directions, and their haphazardly swung blades cut their skin a few times.

Since it was my first time controlling such a large number of sand creatures, I had difficulty commanding them. On occasion, their arms would collide, but since they were composed of sand, repairing them was effortless. What I had not anticipated, however, was that the sand would inadvertently scatter into the eyes, mouths, and gaps in the armor of the knights, hindering their movements more significantly than I had originally predicted.

“Agh!?”

“Gyaaa!?”

“It’s below! The scorpion’s body is inside the sand!”

“How despicable! Reveal yourself!”

While the knights were distracted by the sand creatures, I seized the opportunity to infiltrate the sand from below and execute a surprise attack. I swiftly cut their legs with my pincers and pierced their armor with my poisonous stinger. They called me cowardly from above, but I didn’t want to hear this from the group that had surrounded me with their large numbers. Ignoring their remarks, I ruthlessly took down the knights.

The holy knights aimed their spiritual arts and thrust their swords at me as I hid in the sand, but I was able to evade their attacks by concealing my presence or feigning my movements. In turn, I seized the swords of the defeated knights and wielded them with deadly efficiency through the sand creatures. As time passed, the situation became more and more favorable for me.

While the knights were preoccupied with me beneath the sand, they were attacked by sand creatures on the surface. Conversely, while they were focused on the sand creatures, I emerged from the earth to launch my own lethal assaults. It was a wave attack from above and below, a tactic that best showcased my strength.

“Th-this is too much… we’re done for…”

“Gyaaaaaaah!!”

As the Holy Knights finally started to sense the impending danger, the synthetic beast that should have been torn into four chunks suddenly let out a deafening roar that reverberated through the night sky. What? It was still alive even in that condition? Its vitality was beyond belief.

The closest chunk of flesh landed and shook the earth as it charged toward me. It seemed that the other pieces had also begun to move, each heading toward the noble district amidst the flames.

It seemed like it was running tirelessly, scattering green blood everywhere, but I knew I wouldn’t suffer any harm if I kept hididng underneath the sand. Wait, this route…it leads directly to the slave’s grave!

That guy just wouldn’t let me ignore it. Furthermore, I didn’t want to let the holy knight who held my information live and escape… I had no choice but to use my spiritual powers to their limit, disregarding whether i would grow exhausted.

After breaking the sand creatures, I permeated all the sand particles in the wide terrain with all the spiritual power I had. With precise control, every grain of sand became equivalent to a part of my body.

“What?! Such huge spiritual power is coming from this evil insect-like being?!”

“It’s comparable to the captain…! Retreat!”

My strength in spiritual power was already known when they saw the sand-made arms before. But it seemed that the holy knights, who saw my determination to exterminate everyone, had decided to retreat. It was too late, however. They couldn’t escape anymore. That chunk of flesh and the holy knights were going to be killed by me right here.

Before the Holy Knights could flee, the sand beneath their feet suddenly softened and collapsed, trapping them. They were desperately trying to free themselves, but I had no intention of letting them go. I dragged them into the sand and exerted pressure, crushing their bodies.

Having confirmed the defeat of the Holy Knights buried under the sand, I bided my time for the chunk of flesh to come hurtling towards me. As it passed overhead, I swiftly plunged a spear crafted from sand straight into it.

The sand spear pierced through the chunk of flesh, and the tip, stained with green blood, shot up towards the sky. Although the chunk f flesh had a large hole in it, it was still moving its limbs. So, I generated new branch like spears from the sides of the sand spear and riddled it with holes from the inside.

“Gyugyoooooo……”

Although the chunk of flesh was still moving its limbs even after being pierced by the sand spear, it finally stopped moving. It gave me a hard time, but it’s over now. I used too much spiritual power and was a little tired, but I have now eliminated the obstacle standing in my way and any potential future problems. Now all that’s left is to escape quickly.

Rumble rumble rumble…

Hmm? Is that thunder? The sky had been clear only moments before, but suddenly seemed ominous. Before I knew it, a large, pitch-black cloud had spread over the entire capital.

It feels like a heavy rain is about to come. I’ve been soaked by Georg’s spiritual water art before, and I’ve fought opponents who used water or ice spiritual arts, so I was used to getting wet. However, I didn’t like it because once I get soaked, my body temperature drops, my movements grow stiff, and my exoskeleton gets dirty, making it difficult for me to have the slaves clean it.

I thought about quickly diving into the sand to avoid it. However, I sensed the presence of spiritual power from the thunderclouds in the sky. At the same time, I felt a freezing cold chill throughout my body.

(No, wait… that’s not just an ordinary thundercloud! It’s hard to tell from this distance, but it’s spiritual art! This is bad!)

Immediately after I realized the true identity of that thundercloud, several lightning bolts struck the capital city from the black cloud. To avoid the impact and heat, I quickly dove into the sand.