Chapter 14
‘……What the hell?’
Staring at her right forearm, which had been blown clean off by the incendiary round, the Poison Demon felt as if her mind had gone blank as well.
This body was merely an avatar made by linking deadly parasitic insects, so she felt no pain at all.
Yet the Poison Demon still felt a shock as if she had been struck in the back of the head with a hammer.
‘How did this guy know? That the core cells forming the avatar are most densely concentrated in the right forearm?’
Information that even the almighty Demon Emperor wouldn’t know was seen through by the man before her as if it were obvious.
And that wasn’t the end of it.
“You thought I wouldn’t know you would show up here?”
The man casually spat out a line straight out of a hero’s fairy tale.
While the Poison Demon was lost in confusion over what was happening,
<Kk, kkugug……?!>
With a screech like a kitchen knife scraping across a blackboard, the Poison Demon staggered.
Her vision warped violently, and the bonds holding the deadly parasitic insects that formed the avatar began to loosen rapidly.
‘What kind of bullet was that to destroy all the core cells in a single shot…!! Anyway, at this rate, the time I can maintain this avatar is only—.’
“Ten minutes left.”
An arrogant voice that sounded as if it saw through everything.
Even with her hollow, pupil-less white eyes, the avatar couldn’t hide its shock.
<Wha, what…?>
“Don’t play dumb, you poison bug bitch. Ten minutes, right? That’s how long it will take for your avatar to completely collapse from now.”
<……>
“If you wanted to kill me, you should have come in person instead of sending an avatar. Holding out for ten minutes against a clump of bugs like this doesn’t seem that difficult.”
He must not lose sight of his goal.
Survive. Not defeat her.
Even if it was only an avatar, its power still originated from one of the Seven Great Evils of the continent.
An opponent Ruth’s current level could never hope to overcome.
‘This is different from the Night Fiend.’
Even if he memorized the patterns and used all his veteran knowledge, this was not an enemy he could handle.
The physical gap was significant, and the terrain itself was extremely unfavorable for battle.
‘Everywhere is a swamp, which inevitably reduces mobility. Damn it, a dirty enemy with dirty patterns on a dirty field…….’
It truly deserved to be called one of the Top 10 Weeping Sections of 《Soden》.
It was then.
<Oh really? I think the complete opposite……!!>
—Whoosh!!
A tentacle made of carapaces and blood vessels tore through the air as it flew toward him.
Ruth kicked off the ground he was standing on and leaped, easily dodging it.
It was a devastating attack like a lightning strike, but by maximizing his senses, it wasn’t impossible to evade.
However.
<I think ten minutes is more than enough time to crush you……!!>
Chuarrrrk—!!
When dozens of tentacles — twenty, thirty, fifty — came flying at once, the story changed completely.
Crunch—!!
One of the swinging tentacles grazed Ruth’s cheek as he rolled across the ground.
Smoke rose from the wound, and blue veins bulged for a moment, but
[‘Authority of Resistance’ is resisting the status ailment ‘Poisoning’!]
It quickly returned to its original color and subsided.
‘If I didn’t have the Authority, that single graze would have killed me.’
He would have writhed in agony from the poison penetrating to his marrow and then been torn apart after being caught by the avatar’s tentacles.
Suddenly, the memory of his first encounter with the Poison Demon’s avatar in the game flashed through Ruth’s mind.
Just recalling the infinite continues he suffered back then made his stomach churn.
But this was reality.
Unlike the game, there was no such thing as ‘Continue’ here.
‘One single mistake and it’s straight to the afterlife……!!’
Kwaaaaang!!
The moment that thought crossed his mind, the surface of the swamp behind Ruth exploded upward violently.
While he had been rolling around desperately, a tentacle hidden in the swamp had shot up like a skewer.
Fortunately, he stopped just in time, narrowly avoiding being impaled, but
Crunch!
“……!!”
The moment Ruth staggered because his retreat was cut off, a tentacle shot toward him like a ray of light and wrapped tightly around his body.
With a crushing pressure that felt like his eyeballs would pop out, his feet left the ground.
The Poison Demon lifted the tightly bound Ruth high into the air, pulled him closer, and spoke.
<Was it you? The one who killed No. 31 that I planted in that old chieftain’s body.>
“……”
<You know, my children are quite sturdy, right? They’re kids that don’t get hurt by ordinary antidotes. But you killed No. 31, the healthiest one among them.>
The tentacles constricted his entire body like an anaconda, threatening to crush his bones, but Ruth let the Poison Demon continue talking.
If he could buy even one more second this way, the one who benefited was him.
Of course, the Poison Demon knew that too.
<Not only that, you even saw through the weakness of my avatar. I’m really curious how you did it, but I doubt you’ll obediently answer if I ask, right?>
Slither—
A single tentacle slowly extended from the avatar’s back.
Soon, the tip of the tentacle split into four parts like a blooming flower bud,
And from within, a bug resembling a mosquito with a needle on its proboscis began to crawl out.
<Say hello. This is my daughter No. 12. Isn’t she pretty?>
“…….”
<They say no one is honest in front of a beauty. From now on, this child will dig through your brain and make you spit out the answers I want. I’ll just poke and stimulate the parts responsible for nerve reactions.>
“What crazy nonsense. If you can do something like that with just one bug, then even the Demon Emperor could be toyed with however you like.”
<If you’re skeptical, why don’t you experience it yourself?>
Wiiiiing—!
The moment the Poison Demon revealed a fishy smirk, the deadly parasitic insect on the tentacle spread its wings and thrust its needle forward.
However.
<……?!>
The needle never reached Ruth’s brain.
Because Ruth, who should have been completely bound, had vanished without a trace.
The same instant profound confusion filled the Poison Demon’s eyes,
Click—.
A heavy sound rang out from directly behind her.
The Ruth who had suddenly disappeared was now positioned at the avatar’s rear, aiming his shotgun.
‘<Chasing>… This really is the best survival skill.’
A skill that allowed instant teleportation to the location of any blood within range.
The reason Ruth could remain calm even while fully restrained was because he had already confirmed everything from the start.
Where the blood scattered when he had blown off the avatar’s forearm earlier.
Activating <Chasing> to teleport there, then approaching the opponent’s back and firing the shotgun summoned with <Blood Weapon> was extremely simple.
BOOOOOOM!!
The pellets fired at zero distance exploded with a tremendous roar, burning the air.
<Kyahak……?!>
With just a single shot, more than half of the avatar’s body — formed from hundreds of deadly parasitic insects — was blown away.
Even as green bodily fluids and insect debris scattered right before his eyes, Ruth didn’t even flinch.
He didn’t have the luxury to care about something like nausea right now.
‘No matter what I do, it takes this bitch less than five seconds to finish regenerating.’
Simply running away desperately for the remaining time until the avatar collapsed was not a good plan.
Considering its terrifying regeneration speed and the swamp environment that severely restricted movement.
Therefore, the best option was:
‘Don’t let go of the flow I’ve seized and hold onto it as long as possible!’
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!!
Ruth’s finger pulled the trigger like a madman.
The <Blood Weapon>, which ignored physical laws, poured out bullets relentlessly at that speed.
<Kik, krrruk……!!>
The avatar’s body kept exploding before it could properly regenerate.
If he kept pushing like this without giving it any chance to recover, leaving not even a scrap behind, maybe he wouldn’t even need to endure the full ten minutes.
Ruth briefly entertained that optimistic thought,
‘Fuck.’
But he cursed inwardly while continuing to pull the trigger rapidly.
Because the avatar, which had only regenerated up to its pelvis, had at some point restored its ribcage as well.
It wasn’t that the regeneration speed had increased.
‘It’s getting harder the more it regenerates.’
As if developing resistance.
The amount of flesh that scattered with each hit was visibly decreasing.
The moment he realized this, Ruth stopped firing and lowered his upper body sharply.
Above him,
—Shiiik!!
A horizontally swung tentacle swept across the spot where his upper body had been like a guillotine blade.
The avatar, which had regenerated up to its jaw, grinned with teeth made of insect shells.
<A man who only leads is too boring, don’t you think?>
The Poison Demon’s joke was drowned out by the sound of dozens of tentacles striking from every direction.
Between the narrow gaps of the tentacles, Ruth’s eyes quickly located the Poison Demon’s blood floating on the swamp.
Pubububung—!!
Almost simultaneously as he activated <Chasing> and teleported to the blood’s location, terrifying explosions erupted.
Even with <Iron-Blood Heart> active at all times, a chill ran down his spine.
If his skill activation had been even 0.1 seconds late, he would have been buried under those tentacles by now, leaving not even remains behind.
<I haven’t felt any mana flow from you since earlier. How exactly are you using teleportation? Wait, is it even teleportation in the first place? And my poison doesn’t seem to work on you at all. Hmm, the more I look, the more curious I become about your identity.>
“……”
<Sigh. Just like you said, I kind of regret not coming here personally instead of sending an avatar. If I had, I could have captured you alive and used you as valuable research material. Now I have no choice but to use a troublesome method.>
“Troublesome method?”
<Chop you into tiny pieces and have my children deliver you to me. How does that sound?>
“Listening to you, it’s clear your head has already been chopped into pieces.”
It was utter madness, but the Poison Demon was someone who carried out her insane words without hesitation.
Guruk—.
As if to prove it, several tentacles transformed into shapes specialized for cutting.
Ruth inwardly calculated the remaining time while his eyes tracked the locations of ‘blood’ for <Chasing>.
Fortunately, because he had fired the shotgun wildly earlier, chunks of the Poison Demon’s flesh had scattered everywhere, turning the area into a sea of blood.
‘<Chasing> can be used up to three times in a row without delay. There’s roughly five minutes left. If I calculate the skill cooldown properly, enduring it shouldn’t be too—?!’
At that exact moment.
The rapid flow of thoughts in Ruth’s mind suddenly came to a halt.
It was because a searing pain, as if molten iron had been poured into his side, suddenly struck him.
An unimaginable pain that nearly flipped his vision. It even broke his concentration to activate <Chasing>.
“……!!”
Splash.
Ruth bit his lip to suppress a scream, but he couldn’t stop himself from dropping to one knee.
<Ah, it looks like my son No. 178 has finally finished hatching? How is it? Does it hurt so much you’re going crazy? Burrowing through your pores and gnawing on your muscles and bones — that’s this child’s specialty.>
“……”
<You look like you’re wondering when I planted something like that in you. Do you think I’d tell you?>
There was no need for her to tell him.
It must have been when the tentacles had wrapped around his entire body earlier. She had secretly implanted it then.
Since it was a bug that penetrated through pores, its size would be microscopic, so it was only natural he hadn’t noticed.
<No matter how good you are at running away like a squirrel, you won’t be able to flee while enduring the pain of your muscles being eaten away in real time. Unless you’re a transcendent like me, that is.>
Whirl!
A tentacle instantly shot forward and wrapped around Ruth’s upper body just like before.
The only difference this time was…
<And now that I think about it, before using that strange teleportation, you always rolled your eyes around quite diligently.>
……Crunch!!
This time, not only his upper body but even his face was restrained by tentacles, completely blocking his vision.
It was the moment <Chasing> was fundamentally sealed.
Even though Ruth had only used <Chasing> twice so far, the Poison Demon had accurately figured out the skill’s activation condition.
It was truly an incredible eye for detail befitting one of the Seven Great Evils of the continent.
‘…This is bad.’
He could vividly feel the bug burrowed into his side rapidly devouring his muscle tissue.
To make matters worse, his vision was now completely engulfed in darkness.
This must be what it meant to have no way out.
‘I should use <Devouring Spirit Summon> to break free… No, that’s not an option. That would be cutting my own flesh.’
If he poured all the Devouring Spirits into the avatar, he might be freed from the restraints momentarily, but what came after?
<Devouring Spirit Summon> was a Visionary Blood Sorcery that consumed an enormous amount of blood ki. He had already used it once while entering the crater, and on top of using <Chasing> and <Blood Weapon> consecutively, using a wide-area skill now would truly…
‘My blood ki might bottom out and kill me. Instead of dying to this bitch, I’d end up throwing my own life away.’
He desperately tried to pull his increasingly negative thoughts back under control.
The Poison Demon’s taunting words no longer reached his ears.
Within his pitch-black field of vision, Ruth repeatedly came up with countless alternatives, erased them, came up with more, and erased them again.
And eventually…
“……”
He found it.
A single path to survival.
<There, I purposely left your mouth free. Go ahead and tell me yourself. Which part should I chop off fi—.>
The Poison Demon, who had been speaking leisurely, suddenly fell silent.
Swish. Swish.
Ruth was suddenly drawing something on the tentacle with his blood-soaked finger.
It was a ‘Rune’ shaped like a thin lightning bolt wrapped around a hook.
The Poison Demon instantly recognized the pattern and let out a short, mocking laugh.
<……Rune magic? You really can do anything. And judging by the ‘Thunder Seal’ type, you’re planning to electrocute me or something?>
Magic wasn’t only manifested through skills.
In this world, there existed pictographic characters called ‘Runes’ engraved with the formula codes of specific spells.
Activating those formula codes by reciting the designated chant was ‘Rune Magic.’
Yes. By reciting the chant (Casting).
<Do you think you’ll finish reciting the chant first, or will I chop your body into ten pieces before that? Let’s make a bet… Hm?!>
The Poison Demon couldn’t finish her sentence.
Crackle…….
Because the ‘Rune’ Ruth had carved into the tentacle was emitting faint sparks.
The formula code had been released, and ‘Rune Magic’ had begun.
Ruth hadn’t uttered a single word of the chant with his mouth.
‘How……?!’
Just as pulling the trigger was necessary to fire a gun, magic naturally required a preceding spell.
Yet Ruth had defied that common sense.
[Blood Link Skill, ‘Silent Casting’ has been activated!]
[The world responds to your will!]
The one and only being on the continent who could resonate with mana without chanting.
Mage playable character, Ray Dioph.
The one who had fully inherited her miraculous power was none other than Ruth Fried.
[Rune Magic, ‘Thunder Calling’ has been activated!]
Kwarung……!!
A blue lightning bolt that shattered the ceiling of the crater struck down precisely onto the crown of the Poison Demon’s head.