Chapter 61 – Heart of the Salamander (4)
The giant came charging, swinging his broad blade recklessly.
Despite his massive body, his speed was unbelievably swift. Allowing him to close in carelessly would be a fatal mistake.
Spikes rose up from the ground.
The giant twisted his body, smashing the spikes with grotesque movements. Then, spinning his blade with dazzling speed, he extended his shoulder, aiming straight for Verden's neck.
Swaash!
Verden tilted his head back, the blood-caked blade grazing past his eyes.
A body structure too bizarre to be called human.
'I've seen this somewhere before.'
The sense of déjà vu struck him, but it wasn't the time to dwell on it. Fighting in such a cramped place was nothing but a disadvantage.
"Hhhuaaaagh!"
Krallg, who faced the giant up close, fled up the stairs in terror.
Verden chose another exit.
As the ceiling shifted, the spot where Verden had been shot upward.
In an instant, he broke free from the underground, putting distance between himself and the building. He waited a moment, until an eerie laughter rang out and the giant burst through the door after him.
At the giant's feet, Krallg's headless corpse rolled about.
A barrage of stone lances surged forward.
The giant twisted his mouth into a grin, crossing his blades just before impact. The raw strength behind him shattered the magic into fragments.
'Got you.'
The scattered stone shards in the air, transformed into dozens of tiny spikes, all at once piercing into the giant's body. Nearly black blood spilled onto the ground.
The giant laughed and spoke.
"Kakakakak! For a thug hired by some mere informant, you're not half bad. I'll enjoy hacking you into pieces."
The giant tore off his ragged upper garment.
Even Verden couldn't help but recoil in shock at the sight.
"Faces…?"
On his shoulders, abdomen, and back—faces of people were grafted into his flesh.
If they had merely been the faces of the dead stitched onto him, it could be dismissed as some grotesque hobby, but it wasn't that. The face on his abdomen moved, its mouth gaping open.
The giant tore off a piece of his own flesh, fed it into that mouth. Muscles bulged, and the wounds he had sustained from Verden regenerated.
'Wait… that feature is…'
"Kakakakak! Surprised, are you? But it's far too early for that!"
The faces on his shoulders and back began to writhe, their eyes snapping open.
***
In Martes, Verden had taken down a doctor of Gluttony.
The common trait of the mutant demi-humans and so-called "new humans" that the doctor created was none other than consumption.
'Listener once said it—Gluttony preaches that by eating, humans can evolve to the next stage, clinging to that outdated ideology.'
What Verden had seen in Pythe territory and Martes, and what this giant displayed just now, were nearly identical.
The only difference was that the giant did not touch the surrounding corpses, but ate his own flesh, and only the part where flesh had been torn regenerated.
Clearly an inferior version compared to the doctor's experiments.
'So, an incomplete specimen?'
According to Listener, the doctor was an extremist even within Gluttony. If that giant had indeed been his work, it must have been made before the doctor went to Martes.
'Then again, did I end up interfering by accident?'
Yet, if that were the case, there should have been signs of the Ark's members, but none appeared.
Why then, in the middle of Gray's commission, would he encounter Gluttony? No matter how he thought about it, it didn't add up.
Either way, one thing was certain—Verden had no choice but to deal with the situation himself.
'First, I'll finish this.'
Verden fixed his gaze on the giant.
As the faces on his shoulders and back opened their eyes, magic began to stir.
The giant smiled wide, stretching his lips to his ears, and magic enveloped his body.
A tier-2 imbued spell.
The giant, flaunting his successful casting, burst into laughter.
"Kakakakak! Behold! I am one who wields both magic and aura simultaneously────"
There was no need to listen further.
Puh-bububuk! Dozens of stone fragments pummeled the giant's unguarded face.
Several teeth shattered, gashes tore across his face. Clack-clack-clack! His teeth ground together furiously, his twisted expression brimming with wrath.
A suffocating killing intent surged out of the giant.
"I'll chop you up and chew you alive."
Chagagagagak!
With a speed unlike before, the giant charged, his blade tearing the earth where Verden had stood. He chased without pause, slashing wildly through the forest, cutting apart everything in his path.
Then, one of the faces on his shoulders mumbled something, magic flaring.
A fireball and stones hurtled in from both sides. Verden tried to counter, but a blade suddenly came slashing at him.
He barely ducked in time, then surged the ground upward, blasting everything around him away.
'Those faces are troublesome.'
To wield both aura and magic at once, and at such a level—
It was as if he faced multiple opponents at once. Without his heightened senses, that crude blade would already have cut him.
No matter how much experience he had in close combat, Verden was still, in the end, a Mage.
Against opponents like Leira or Bardel, the most he could do in melee was buy a little time.
Verden shot up into the sky.
The giant too took flight by magic, pursuing him. Dodging the magic fired from behind, Verden twisted his body in near-acrobatic movements, kicking the air.
In flight, Verden's mastery was superior. In a flash, he slipped behind the giant, staff aimed.
"Krrrgagagaga?!"
A fierce bolt of lightning sent the giant crashing to the ground.
Though he quickly rose, he dropped to one knee from the shock. Seizing the moment, Verden launched three colossal stone lances.
Kwa-gwa-gwa-gwang! The ground was obliterated in an instant.
The rubble shifted, and the giant emerged once more.
'What terrifying durability.'
The power was enough to kill an Ogre in a single strike, yet it had only torn away part of the giant's side and shoulder. At the very least, Verden had expected to blow off a limb.
"Kakakakak, for someone of your age to wield such magic and movement… I've changed my mind. Would you not consider joining us? If it's him, he will surely accept you."
"And if I do, must I have those faces grafted onto me as well?"
"…Of course, if you wish to cast off the wretched old humanity and become a new human."
"I see."
Verden nodded, and spoke.
"Get lost."
***
Though Verden held the upper hand, the battle would not end easily.
The giant gnawed on his own flesh, regenerating wounds as he fought. With that powerful body as a weapon, his relentless blade and flying spells made it hard for Verden to cast large-scale magic.
'How troublesome.'
Just how had they modified his body?
Judging from the differing forms of the faces, they seemed to have been grafted from others. But how could such a thing be possible? To think transplanting mana circuits could even be done.
Once more regenerating his wounds, the giant swung his blade. Verden blocked with his staff, yet the impact shook him. Clashing against the strikes, he descended to the ground.
Kagagagagang!
Even with Verden's body strengthened by imbued magic, the giant's speed was difficult to keep up with. Sensing he had gained the upper hand, the giant cackled, pressing Verden hard.
"Kakakak! You seem tired now! You refused to become a new human, so I'll grant you the honor of having your face cut away, and the chance to join us!"
But his breathing was harsher than before.
Of course, since he kept chewing his own flesh, bleeding endlessly, his stamina could not possibly last.
'He's reaching his limit.'
Then, with all his weight behind it, the twin blades knocked Verden's staff from his hands.
Without a weapon, it should have been over. The giant's blade swung up toward Verden's jaw, ready to neatly slice off his face.
But he had overlooked one thing.
For a Mage, a staff was merely an auxiliary tool. Magic could be cast at any time, with or without it. Especially for Verden.
A translucent veil wrapped around Verden, diverting incoming force.
A technique impossible without mana control and calculation ability at the highest level. Just before striking Verden, the giant's blow twisted away, rebounding in the opposite direction.
Kwa-jik!
"Kraaaagh?!"
The giant's own blade smashed into his face.
Even with one eye gouged out, the giant swung his other arm with full strength. But just before it reached Verden's neck, cracks split the blade, and it shattered to pieces.
"What…?!"
"You blocked my magic again and again, did you really think your weapon would remain intact?"
Crunch. Verden seized the face grafted onto the giant's abdomen. Its neat teeth clattered, but the mana barrier from the protective necklace was unyielding.
Heat flared from Verden's hand, crimson light seeping from within the giant's body.
"N-no…!"
From within, raging fire burst out.
***
The Gluttony giant burned black.
Unable to withstand the searing heat ignited from within, his body tore apart, upper half and lower half splitting. The faces grafted onto his torso were crushed beyond recognition.
With his lone remaining eye, the giant glared at Verden.
"Ka…kak… To become a new human… me… beaten by a worthless old human…!"
"Still alive, are you?"
"The doctor… the doctor will be disappointed… he will be… disappointed…!"
Doctor, he said. That man had long since died.
So, Gluttony still did not know of the doctor's death. Better that way. The last thing Verden wanted was to be targeted by a group that desecrated human bodies like this.
The other way around, perhaps.
At any rate, it was over.
With nerves and muscles all melted away, he would die soon enough. Retrieving his staff through Telekinesis, Verden raised it to finish him.
The giant's back writhed. Without hesitation, Verden blew his head apart.
But then, convulsing, his body twisted over. A face on his back had swallowed the Heart of the Salamander. His head regenerated, muscles swelling crimson.
"Persistent bastard."
Would he only die if reduced to dust?
As Verden gathered mana, the regenerated body suddenly began to collapse.
Then—Peurung!
Flesh and blood scattered in every direction. Verden held his guard, but nothing followed after the explosion.
"…Self-destruction?"
Still, he could not lower his guard.
Spreading flames, Verden incinerated every trace of the giant's remains. Only then did he walk forward. On the ground, the Heart of the Salamander pulsed faintly.
'I don't know why they're after this…'
But it was not something to decide now.
Besides, he could not contact the Ark on his own.
Verden decided to keep the heart with him for now.
Gluttony was dead, and Locus as well. Scanning with mana detection, he confirmed he was the only living one left in the area. Pale had said he didn't need it, so if Verden kept it hidden and used it later, no one would ever know.
He slipped the Heart of the Salamander into his spatial bag.
Finally, he descended underground to gather the documents.
Though marked with sword slashes and stained with blood, they were still readable.
"With this, the commission is finished."
Leaving Locus's secret hideout, Verden walked away.
Behind him, roaring flames consumed the building, devouring every trace and remnant.