[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
Chapter 37: The God of the Blue Mane Tribe (3)
Thud!
Tarkasi's massive body stumbled and collapsed to the ground with a deafening crash.
A silence fell over the unbelievable sight, but only for a mont.
"Wh... What have you done!"
An enormous roar, almost impossible to believe it was human, erupted from beside them.
Arandel, who had unleashed the beast-like bellow, shouted with his eyes half-rolled back,
"I trusted you! Is this what a priest would do?!"
Hal simply raised his hand and silently pointed at the fallen Tarkasi.
"Look there."
Arandel wanted to break that detestable arm and neck of Hal’s.
But...
Grit!
He gritted his teeth, but he trusted Hal one last ti.
No, it was closer to inertia.
Because in the past two days, nothing Hal had said had been wrong.
Wiggle!
"...?"
Sothing was moving where he turned his gaze.
Was Tarkasi, whose neck had been cut, still alive?
No.
Sothing had felt off from the beginning.
'...There's no blood?'
Even if revered as a god, its physical body was made of flesh, blood, and bone.
It should have gushed blood when cut.
There was only a small amount of viscous liquid like old oil flowing on the ground, no blood.
And the cross-section of the severed neck.
Sothing was wriggling there, reattaching the severed neck to the body.
Tarkasi had no such power.
Then...
"What in the world is that?"
At Arandel's bewildered murmur, Hal wiped the rotten blood off his sword and replied,
"I don't know, but one thing is clear."
"..."
"We're already too late."
The Tarkasi that had been waiting for Hal and his party here was no longer the god worshipped by the tribe, nor the master of the forest.
It was just a rotting corpse, emitting a foul odor.
Nothing more, nothing less.
[G... Guh... Ugh.]
Tarkasi slowly rose.
Red foam, a mixture of saliva and blood, ford around its mouth, and perhaps because it had fallen, one of its pupils was vacant while the other bulged out, as if about to pop, and twitched.
Wiggle, wiggle!
White objects wriggled and fell from the empty eye socket.
Maggots.
It shook its dangling neck and mumbled haltingly,
[Die... Ungrateful... humans.]
"Aaah..."
Arandel, as well as the elite warriors of the tribe, were speechless and groaned at the horrifying sight.
The god they had served had beco a demon.
Their shock was unimaginable.
Hal stepped forward and faced the deceased Tarkasi.
His duty was clear.
To liberate the already dead body.
"I will take care of it."
Hal muttered calmly to the dazed Arundel.
Arandel was still unresponsive.
Hal hadn't expected a reply anyway, so he didn't mind.
He simply continued forward silently.
The closer he got, the stronger the stench that pierced his nose.
It was sothing all too familiar to Hal.
So he had beco desensitized to it.
Rather than disgust, the terrible sll reminded Hal of loss.
It brought forth layers of mories, mories of the past that he had tried so hard to forget.
In a form that hadn't faded in the slightest.
Crunch!
Hal gripped his sword tightly.
***
Clang!
With a sharp tallic sound, Hal's body was pushed back.
He quickly swung his sword for a counterattack, but it had already disappeared.
Hal quietly gritted his teeth.
A short while after the battle began, Hal entered the depths of the forest.
He had judged that it would be advantageous to fight within the trees, given the creature's large size.
It was a misjudgnt.
"..."
Under the shade of the lush trees, the enormous form dashed like the wind.
Its deep blue fur blended naturally into the shadows, like ink spilled across the night sky.
Invisible and unrestrained.
The master of the forest.
It moved through the forest like the wind, roaming in the darkness.
'It's coming.'
Focusing solely on the sound, Hal quickly turned his body at the sound of cutting air and swung his sword.
Clang!
Sharp, white fangs erged from the darkness.
But only for a mont.
It disappeared, leaving only the red sparks that flew as it clashed with Hal's sword.
Hal finally realized.
This was still its hunting ground, its land.
Even though it had beco a corpse with a dangling neck, that hadn't changed.
'This is bad.'
Ti was not on Hal's side.
The neck, which he had half-severed in his initial surprise attack, was gradually healing.
And with it, the attacks were becoming stronger.
It would only take a mont.
If he could hold it off for just a little while, he could sever the spine he couldn't cut before and completely detach the neck.
'But at this rate...'
Just as his thoughts began to wander, yellow eyes darted out from the darkness, interrupting Hal's train of thought.
Closing the distance in an instant, Tarkasi headbutted Hal.
Expecting it to bite, Hal hurriedly thrust his sword out, but the sword, hitting the hard skull, did nothing to slow it down.
Bang!
Perhaps this was what it felt like to be hit by a carriage.
Hal, thrown into the air, felt his consciousness fading from the dizzying impact, but he gritted his teeth and held on.
Then he twisted his body with a whoosh.
The next mont,
Snap!
Dozens of teeth appeared where Hal had been, biting at the empty air.
He hadn't completely dodged it.
Along with his armor, half of his shoulder was ripped off.
If he hadn't dodged, his head would have been bitten off.
Hal barely managed to land on the ground.
"...Ugh."
He gritted his teeth to regain his senses.
He had used up too much stamina in the past two days.
His recovery was slow, and the pain was hard to endure.
Hal grabbed his dangling shoulder, healing it as he thought.
His breathing was ragged, and his head was spinning.
This was dangerous.
Hal carefully reached for the flask at his waist.
He had been trying not to use it as much as possible, unsure when he would be consud by madness, but there was no other choice.
The yellow eyes in the darkness slowly closed the distance.
It seed to have given up on hiding.
Just as Hal was about to open the lid of the flask,
"Shoot."
Whoosh!
Dozens of arrows grazed past Hal and pierced Tarkasi.
[Grrr...]
The mont Tarkasi faltered, dozens of figures rushed past Hal towards it.
There was no need to wonder who they were.
"Will buying ti be enough?"
Arandel appeared behind Hal.
Hal nodded.
"Just for a mont, please."
"Leave it to ."
As he spoke, Arandel bit into sothing he was holding and threw it on the ground.
Hal didn't know what it was, but it was a deer's heart, used for druid secret arts.
The next mont,
Crack, crack!
His bones twisted, and his body began to swell rapidly.
It was a rough and turbulent transformation, like a pupa tamorphosing.
"...This is."
Another blue wolf.
Hal was montarily surprised, but Arandel, who had already completed his transformation, let out a long howl.
"Awooooo!"
After the howl, Arandel glanced at Hal and then rushed towards the creature.
In the darkness, Tarkasi and the warriors of the Blue Mane Tribe began to fight.
Every ti it swung its paws and snapped its jaws, the elite warriors of the Blue Mane Tribe were thrown about.
Only Arandel was able to block its movents, biting at its limbs.
A short ti passed like this.
'Alright.'
His wounds had mostly healed.
Now it was Hal's turn to finish it off.
'The Azure Fla is not enough.'
Perhaps because of its inherent divinity,
The Azure Fla couldn't burn Tarkasi's body, which had once been worshipped as a god.
It seed the only way was to completely sever its neck.
'I need to stop its movent.'
Only one thod ca to Hal's mind.
Talisman Control Technique: Shadow Binding.
The technique Hal had used to restrain Azhi Dahaka while under the influence of the dragon blood.
'Let's try it.'
His deliberation was brief.
He could barely sense mana, and he had never properly controlled it with his will, but... sohow, he felt like he could do it.
Hal extended his talisman, aiming it at Tarkasi, who was running through the darkness.
By now, the entire tribe had been knocked down, and only Arandel was barely managing to withstand its attacks.
There was no room for error.
He only had one chance.
Hal took a deep breath and slowly exhaled.
His shoulders, stiff with tension, relaxed.
The trembling in his hands subsided.
He could do it now.
Hum!
Hal focused on the energy deep within his body.
Mana had always existed within Hal.
He just hadn't known it.
Hal threw a pebble into that energy.
The pebble thrown into the lake created ripples.
And the ripples spread, circulating through the circuits that extended to every corner of his body.
'So this is what it was like.'
Mana filled Hal's eyes.
He began to see clearly in the darkness.
Fully sensing the mana dwelling within him, Hal stirred a tempest in its flow.
The calm lake, with its gentle ripples, gradually beca turbulent.
The small simring turned into a storm, sweeping and crashing through his body like waves in the sea.
Grit!
Red blood trickled from between his clenched teeth.
His insides churned, and his blood flowed in reverse.
But Hal didn't stop.
The pain was familiar.
There was no chance of his mind faltering.
Mana dwelled in the sword Hal held.
The talisman, responding to the gathered mana, trembled slightly.
As if to signal it was ready.
Hal looked directly at Tarkasi.
Then, pointing the tip of his sword at it, he muttered softly,
"Talisman Control Technique: Release."
The forest rippled.
The energy flowing in the atmosphere reversed in an instant.
"Shadow Binding."
Whoosh!
Black shadows darted out.
The shadows of the forest no longer belonged to Tarkasi.
At this mont, they were Hal's.
Hal didn't hesitate.
With the azure flas cloaking his sword, he kicked off the ground.
Closing the vast distance in an instant, Hal stood before Tarkasi.
From the ground,
From the trees,
From the rocks, shadows stretched out, binding Tarkasi tightly.
The shadows creaked as if they were about to snap at any mont, but it was enough.
Hal kicked off a tree and leaped into the air.
Then, unlike before, he swung his sword down from above.
"I apologize for the delay."
Slash!
The sword severed the spine, cutting through the wound he had made earlier.
The head, no longer attached to the body, fell to the ground with a thud.
Tarkasi, collapsed like that, remained silent and motionless.
It was over.
"..."
Hal stood beside it, his body swaying.
Soone approached and stood behind him.
"Arandel."
"...Thank you."
Arandel, who had returned to his human form, expressed his gratitude with a complex expression.
Hal slowly shook his head.
After all, he hadn't been able to save their god.
And more importantly...
"It's not over yet."
"...What do you an?"
Arandel asked back wearily.
Although he felt sorry for him, Hal's thoughts were firm.
"The deterioration was too rapid. Lord Tarkasi should have had more ti."
"...What do you an?"
"It ans there's a culprit who worsened Lord Tarkasi's condition."
Just as Hal finished speaking,
Clap, clap, clap, clap!
The sound of clapping started to echo.
[Translator - Peptobismal]
[Proofreader - Max]
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