Chapter 9
Reward: 5,000 BP, All-Aspect Torch
The shittier the quest difficulty, the better the reward quality.
This was the one and only advantage Ruth acknowledged in this vomit-inducing dead game.
‘5,000 BP is nice and all, but… they’re seriously giving me the <All-Aspect Torch> as a quest reward?’
In 《Soden》, there were countless items that could enchant weapons with magic or attributes.
Among them, the <All-Aspect Torch> stood at the absolute peak of enchantment items.
Fire, Lightning, Ice, Wind.
Unlike normal items that could only grant a single attribute, the <All-Aspect Torch> allowed the user to freely apply any of those four elements.
‘When you consider that most monsters have clear elemental weaknesses, this is straight-up broken.’
Moreover, it wasn’t a consumable item—it was closer to an artifact, meaning it was permanent.
But perhaps wary of its insane versatility, the developers had locked the <All-Aspect Torch> behind a specific late-game route in the story.
It was not something one could obtain just by killing a single Night Fiend like this.
‘If the <All-Aspect Torch> is the carrot, I have no choice but to go all out.’
Even though he knew this was no time to be smiling, the corners of Ruth’s mouth kept twitching upward.
Shiiing— BOOOOM!!
Right up until the Night Fiend’s clawed foreleg, lined with saw-like blades, slammed into the ground.
It was a simple downward strike, yet the shockwave felt like a storm exploding right in front of him.
“…Hah.”
Even though he had dodged backward, a gash opened on his cheek and blood streamed down. His top was shredded to rags.
The ground had caved in from the impact, sending sharp fragments of rock flying like shrapnel.
「Hundreds of years… no, over a thousand… trapped in this cold sewer…!」
Roaring with fury, the Night Fiend swung its forelegs wildly.
Despite being a quadruped, its sheer size nearly reached the ceiling, yet the speed of its strikes surpassed most swordsmen.
Blocking? Insane. Either arm—or anything else—would be shattered and sent flying.
The only correct choice was to dodge at all costs.
「Speak…! What is your relationship with Kantu…?! Are you his descendant…?!」
BOOOOM—! BOOOOM—! BOOOOM—!
Ruth narrowly avoided the relentless barrage, calmly waiting for an opening.
‘Even if it’s a grudge, as long as it possesses physical form, it still has stamina. If it keeps rampaging like this, a gap will eventually appear.’
The Night Fiend’s most notable trait was that while each of its patterns was extremely powerful and difficult, there was always a rather noticeable delay after each pattern ended.
If one knew the strategy and had the ability to apply it, there were plenty of opportunities to counterattack.
That was why Ruth judged that victory was possible.
At that moment—
KIIIAAAAAAAAAAAK!!
A blood-curdling shriek rang out, causing Ruth’s expression to harden.
It wasn’t the scream itself that alarmed him—it was the fact that the scream had appeared at all.
That shriek was a precursor, signaling the start of a specific pattern.
‘Fuck. No delay—straight into the next phase?’
Was this because it wasn’t an AI following programmed behavior, but a real living being?
Ruth inwardly cursed the game for making *only* the annoying parts realistic.
「If you won’t answer… I’ll tear you into a thousand pieces…! Then ask your soul directly…!!」
The source of the eardrum-shredding wail was the Night Fiend’s back.
More precisely, the countless “arms” sprouting from its back.
Those arms writhed like desperate souls craving life, then—
SPLUUUUURT—!!
They tore through the Night Fiend’s own flesh and emerged fully.
They were merfolk with human faces.
Small human upper bodies like dwarves, but with fins and gills on their lower halves.
Kiiiieee……
Kiaaaaa……!
The face-merfolk, glowing like will-o’-the-wisps, swarmed toward Ruth all at once.
Facing the piranha-like horde, Ruth calmly deployed <Blood Weapon> and created a new armament.
A short sword—lightweight and capable of drawing free, fluid trajectories.
But he didn’t stop there.
Huuuum—!
A dark crimson aura overlaid the blood-red short sword.
[Skill <Black Radiance Divine Sword> has been activated!]
[Swordsmanship ability has been greatly enhanced!]
—Schlick!
The short sword moved like lightning, slicing three face-merfolk charging at point-blank range in a single stroke.
‘Trying to dodge is pointless. These things will chase until they strip every last piece of flesh.’
Unless their prey was completely devoured, they would never stop.
There was only one way to deal with them.
He had to kill every single one of the hundreds of piranha-like creatures.
Thankfully, the Night Fiend couldn’t move while it was expelling the merfolk. This part was exactly the same as in the game.
‘One second. No…’
Schlick! Schlick! Schlick!
As Ruth unleashed a relentless barrage of sword strikes, slicing apart the merfolk, his mind sharpened to a razor’s edge.
Cut down three, and five more would already be swarming him. Cut down five, and twenty more would open their mouths packed with fangs, trying to tear into his flesh.
It felt like standing before a massive tidal wave.
But—
‘The moment I stop moving even for an instant, it’s over.’
Slaaash……!!
The flawless sword path Ruth drew bisected every single face-merfolk that tried to latch onto him from all directions.
Any third party watching would have doubted their own eyes.
This was a transcendent realm only possible through the fusion of a Blood Mage’s talent and the Sword God Demian’s ability.
Of course.
Kiaaaaaah—!
Crunch—!
“Kh…!”
It couldn’t be perfect.
His current low <Rank> stat still couldn’t fully support his swordsmanship talent when dealing with those attacking from his blind spots.
He twisted the tip of his blade and shook off the merfolk biting into his leg, arm, shoulder, and side.
In the process, chunks of flesh were torn away, sending searing pain like electric shocks through his body.
Ruth pushed <Iron-Blood Heart> to its limit and swallowed the agony.
「That swordsmanship… weren’t you… a shaman…?」
Even the Night Fiend, whose standards of common sense were far removed from humanity, was shocked by the display of martial prowess Ruth was showing.
There was no rule saying a shaman couldn’t be skilled with a sword… but this clearly defied logic.
「Guhhhh……!」
The Night Fiend staggered, letting out a groan after expelling all the merfolk.
It was the aftermath of vomiting out parts that were essentially extensions of its own body.
And in that moment—when the creature lowered its head and retched—
Schlick—!
Ruth did not miss the opportunity.
Having finally cut down the last merfolk, Ruth’s body was now a complete wreck.
His entire figure was ragged, covered in torn flesh and clotted blood.
Even in that state, the corners of his mouth curled up into a grin.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment.”
Deal time.
Shrrrrk—!!
The blood-red short sword wriggled and transformed into the shape of a hammer.
Gripping it tightly with both hands, veins bulging, Ruth charged forward.
Straight toward the Night Fiend’s flank.
‘As expected. My memory was correct.’
The instant he spotted the fissure-like wound on the creature’s side—
BOOOOOOM……!!
The hammer, swung with full force, slammed exactly into the center of the wound.
「Grrrrrrraaaaaaaaah?!」
The Night Fiend threw its head back and screamed.
No matter where you struck it would take damage, but this wound on its flank was its only critical weak point.
It contained the setting of the “eternal scar” carved by Kantu’s curse, but that wasn’t important right now.
‘What matters is making full use of this golden deal time!’
BOOOOOOOOM—!!
「Stop… it…!!」
As Ruth prepared to swing the hammer for a third strike, he felt danger and hurriedly retreated.
Crackle—!!
At the same time, the Night Fiend’s massive body became wrapped in violet lightning.
It was the same lightning that had swept away Glenda’s party earlier.
Only this time, the creature was using it like armor.
With sparks constantly crackling across its body, attacking the weak point directly was now impossible.
‘Then I just won’t approach.’
The Night Fiend’s goal was clearly to use this time to recover its body while he was forced to keep his distance. But Ruth wasn’t about to let that happen.
Shrrrrk—.
The blunt end of the hammer sharpened into a deadly point.
A blood-red harpoon, perfected for throwing, formed in Ruth’s hand.
The Night Fiend looked at it with eyes full of shock. Even with empty eye sockets, the horror was unmistakable.
「The shaman I knew… could never do something like this…?!」
“I’m not a shaman.”
This bastard had been talking to himself and throwing a tantrum this whole time.
Ruth gave a curt reply, then—
Shwaaaak……!!
He hurled the harpoon.
SQUELCH—!
Without any deviation, the harpoon pierced cleanly into the wound on the Night Fiend’s flank with a satisfying sound of tearing flesh.
「Guhhh…… Grrrrraaaaaaaaah—!!」
The Night Fiend let out a grotesque, rage-filled scream as its body began cracking apart like dry farmland.
The arms that had been regenerating stopped growing entirely.
It was collapsing.
「I, who was once called a walking nightmare…! I, who received the blood of archdukes…!!」
Its hollow eye sockets burned with madness as they glared at Ruth.
And then it charged.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
The Night Fiend began rushing toward him.
「You think… I’ll be defeated… by a human… twice…?!」
It was a reckless, all-or-nothing charge. On top of that, it was heavily injured, so its speed had dropped significantly. Dodging wasn’t difficult.
“Damn it.”
…If Ruth hadn’t been in such terrible shape himself.
The injury to his leg from the merfolk earlier was proving fatal.
BOOOOOOM!!
Still, he somehow managed to roll out of the way.
The Night Fiend’s massive body, charging like a dump truck, slammed into the innocent wall instead.
‘I almost died…’
The moment Ruth staggered to his feet, his vision darkened.
The Night Fiend’s tail, swung like a whip, was already right in front of his face.
“……!”
He barely managed to raise his spear and block the tail, but he couldn’t avoid the impact entirely.
BANG!
“Khk…!”
His body was sent flying from the shock. After tumbling across the ground more than ten times, Ruth finally came to a stop.
The pain from the merfolk bite alone was enough to drive him mad, and now even his ribs were shattered.
‘Fuck. This really hurts like hell.’
As his consciousness flickered and his vision blurred—
He suddenly noticed the large pool of blood covering the floor.
「You and I… we’re both in terrible shape…! If we’re on equal footing, then it’s obvious who has the advantage—」
“Thanks.”
「……What?」
“You sent me flying exactly where I needed to go.”
Saying so,
Ruth scooped up a handful of the blood soaking the ground
And smeared it across his face.
[<Sacred Blood> has been activated!]
[A large amount of blood is seeping into your skin. Damaged tissue is being restored.]
The new skill born from the fusion of blood ki and divine power—<Sacred Blood>.
The source of the healing blood was not restricted by race.
That’s right.
Even if it was the blood of the ‘Dawn Troll’ lying right beside him, it made no difference.
Torn flesh regenerated in an instant. Broken bones realigned and mended.
As his external wounds healed, his fractured mind also regained clarity.
It didn’t take long for Ruth to return to peak condition.
“Do we still look like we’re on equal footing?”
「…….」
Faced with Ruth’s arrogant gaze, the Night Fiend was rendered speechless by the unprecedented phenomenon.
And that brief opening became the decisive factor leading to its irreversible death.
Shiiing— THUD!!
The second thrown spear pierced straight through the Night Fiend’s forehead.
As it thrashed wildly and let out a final scream, Ruth leaped and landed on top of its head.
Then—
Click—!
A blood-red sawed-off shotgun, created through <Blood Weapon>, was pressed against the crown of its skull.
「N-No…! Stop—!」
Without bothering to give any final words to the creature begging for its life,
Ruth pulled the trigger without the slightest hesitation.
BOOOOOOM—!!
Twin barrels spat out blood-red slugs instead of fire.
One shot was more than enough.
To turn the head of a mass of lingering grudge into pulp.
[Level up!]
[Level up!]
[Level up…….]
[Sub Quest: The Night Fiend’s Grudge has been completed!]
[You have received 5,000 BP and the All-Aspect Torch as rewards!]