Chapter 49
SKREEEEEE!
“……”
BOOM! BOOM!
General Kalkelak faced the monster Serden had become.
Using brilliant swordsmanship, he repeatedly attacked openings in the creature’s defense.
He quickly entered its reach and stabbed several times.
But Serden’s skin and Aura had become several times harder than before.
Every attack bounced away.
For a brief moment, the failed attacks left the general slightly frustrated.
The monster instinctively kicked.
BOOOOOOM!
“Hoo…”
The blow struck Kalkelak’s right side.
Several ribs broke immediately.
It was the same problem as before.
Even with his body reinforced by Aura, the damage still got through.
“You’re tough. In every sense.”
ROOOOOAR!
The monster charged again.
The general focused on defense and redirected as many attacks as possible.
Strength, stamina, agility, physical durability, Aura, mana… Every ability connected to physical enhancement has risen dramatically.
BOOM! BANG!
It was not strange.
Every servant of Arqua, the White Silence, obtained powerful physical abilities and the power to control wind.
The latter weakened as the bloodline became thinner.
The former remained until the very end.
That meant no matter how many generations passed and no matter how much mixed blood entered the family,
any descendant could still produce power like this.
Of course, not every descendant transformed into a monster.
Certain conditions had to be met.
Even so, this man had obtained enormous strength rather easily.
And the result was obvious.
“…That stings, damn it.”
Cracks had formed across several parts of Kalkelak’s body.
His thick outer defense was slowly splitting.
The other Were watched in shock as General Kalkelak struggled.
The monster seemed to have become more familiar with its new body.
Its movements were faster than before.
“A difficult one pattern fighter… I suppose that fits a servant of that thing. Troublesome, but nothing more. It seems physical superiority is its only strategy, so perhaps it is time to finish this.”
The general clenched both fists while looking at the monster, which drooled with excitement at the thought of tearing him apart.
Beside his Mana Heart,
the sacred Divineheart unique to the Dragonkin began beating for the first time in more than ten years.
Isabella, watching from far away, widened her eyes.
“The power stored through Summer Hibernation… is being released…!”
Summer Hibernation.
Among all Were,
only the Dragonkin, the Weredraco, possessed this trait.
They slept for roughly six months each year and stored power.
During that period, their bodies did not age at all.
As descendants of dragons, a race granted lives close to eternity, they already had naturally long lifespans.
Weredraco increased that advantage even further through Summer Hibernation.
But increased lifespan was not its only benefit.
The true value was amplification of power.
Aura and mana stored inside the Divineheart during hibernation could temporarily be released.
The user could strengthen their physical abilities by at least twice, and in some cases up to ten times.
Its efficiency was poor because the effect was so powerful.
It could not be maintained for long.
Even so, with the amount Kalkelak had stored, it could last more than three hours.
“Though in reality, three minutes should be enough.”
SKREEEEEE!
The monster’s charge exceeded the speed of sound.
Its roar arrived late.
It appeared directly in front of the general.
Kalkelak adjusted his grip on the sword.
Until moments ago, only a thin layer of Aura had covered the blade.
Now it had taken on the shape of something closer to a greatsword.
The Aura around the general’s entire body had also become thick armor.
SLASH!
He took the clawed hand strike directly with his body.
Then Boneheart cut through the monster’s entire left arm, all the way near the shoulder.
BOOOOOOM!
Kalkelak twisted his body and drove a kick into the creature’s stomach.
It was sent flying away.
Then he returned his sword to its sheath.
“Now then… Hopefully your mind has returned.”
With the monster’s low intelligence, it was impossible to understand what had happened.
Pain.
Damage.
Loss.
Those were all it could understand.
Its entire left arm was gone.
Blood poured out.
The kick had destroyed its internal organs as well.
Even so, the monster could not stop.
That was Arqua’s restraint.
The moment someone took the form of its servant,
returning to human form became impossible.
A strange urge to destroy that could not stop even if its own body was torn apart.
A murderous desire to rip the enemy apart even if death came first.
That was what moved the monster that had once been Serden.
The general looked slightly disappointed.
Still, he gave it a small compliment.
“Your skill is terrible, but that killing intent is no weaker than the other servants. Not bad, bandit leader.”
ROOOOOAR!
The monster charged one final time.
Instead of drawing his sword, Kalkelak took a fighting stance.
“Come.”
It had lost every part of its reason, including judgment.
It moved only through instinct.
Yet its desire to kill was genuine.
It attacked weaknesses with obsessive precision.
The monster barely avoided Kalkelak’s right punch and aimed its own right hand toward the general’s neck, the weakest area.
But,
“…Without the reflexes of a servant, you wouldn’t even have reacted to that feint.”
Kalkelak’s left straight had already slammed into its face with full force.
BOOOOOOOOOOM!
Before the creature’s hand could reach his neck,
it was sent flying again.
Part of its face broke off and scattered across the ground.
The skull and even the brain had been completely crushed.
It was difficult to believe there could be any consciousness left.
Yet the monster still struggled.
It clawed and bit at anything within reach.
Unable to continue watching, Danforth used the sword Frank had given him and cleanly cut off its head.
Only then did the monster stop moving.
The blood pouring from its body slowly turned into white smoke.
It spread in every direction.
Only after that did the body return to Serden’s original form.
“Sorry. You looked like you wanted information… but I couldn’t keep watching.”
“No, it’s fine. He couldn’t control his own mind. The fact that he never regained his reason before dying proves that.”
Kalkelak looked indifferently at the corpse.
He appeared far more exhausted than before.
He rubbed his fist.
“At least one thing is certain now. The White Silence has not disappeared or been sealed.”
“…That’s certainly true.”
“Let Uel Ferda handle the cleanup. We should recover as much stamina as possible before the thirteenth floor.”
