Chapter 392: Budding (7)

The black Black Tree that had started in the royal palace split the heavens and earth into thousands of strands as it surged upward.

And what came a beat later was—

■■■■■■■■■■-!!!!

The screams of those horrific anomalous entities.

A sound like hundreds—thousands—of people screaming together echoed through Colony.

"Ah—"

The black tree that had been holding its form until just a moment ago slowly began to fade away.

And then.

The fruit that had been hanging from the tips of its black branches all started dropping to the ground at once.

Hundreds, thousands of anomalous entities—each one something an average fighter couldn’t properly stop on their own—

hit the ground so pointlessly, crumbling like soft fruit.

"Didn’t you say it yourself?"

Acaron muttered blankly as he watched.

His mind had already figured out who’d done this without much trouble.

It would’ve been strange if he couldn’t.

Right now, aside from the First Prince who was trying to hand them over to those monstrous anomalous entities—

there was only one person in that royal palace.

"What did I say?"

"That thing’s just... stronger than the Golden Flash?"

Acaron’s whole body broke out in a sticky, crawling chill.

Without meaning to, the sight in front of him dragged the Golden Flash to mind.

Colony’s first Baba Yaga.

The strongest of all the Baba Yagas.

The Golden Flash.

Acaron knew how strong that person was.

Of course he did.

In the last few battles, the one who’d helped the most in holding back anomalous entities had been the Golden Flash.

If other Baba Yagas died in the battles to come, Acaron would probably stop at showing brief regret.

But if the Golden Flash fell—

Acaron would pull out of that fight without hesitation.

Because if the Golden Flash had fallen, that meant—

even if every remaining force in Colony joined hands, they still couldn’t win against whatever did it.

That was how strong the Golden Flash was in Acaron’s mind.

But the scene in front of him now—

"That’s just... a god—"

was so overwhelming it made even him spit something like that out.

"......Seems like the rumor wasn’t exaggerated after all."

Kazan, who’d been standing there dazed as well, nodded along—

and then—

Bang—!

Another spine-chilling blast tore out of the half-destroyed royal palace.

■■■■■■■■■■■-!!!!

Anomalous entities so disgusting you frowned just from looking at them began pouring out again.

"You’ve gotta be fucking kidding me—after that many died, it’s not over!?"

Acaron shrieked at the impossible situation.

But only for a moment.

"Tch, hurry up and grab the baggage!"

At Kazan’s shout, Acaron snapped back to himself.

Scowling, he hooked the collapsed soldiers under both arms.

They immediately started moving toward the colosseum.

####

'......Evacuation’s finished.'

As the Black Tree vanished, anomalous entities fell from the sky.

And now Colony’s royal palace had been completely shattered.

Alon watched that scene and confirmed the plan had succeeded—

and then—

"Ha—"

A sound came from beside him.

When Alon turned his gaze, Karaan was there, letting out a hollow laugh like it was absurd.

"......."

Karaan’s condition was obviously not normal.

The body that had been waiting for Alon’s death with a look of bliss the moment the anomalous entities were summoned—

was no longer intact anywhere.

Of his limbs, the only thing left was a single right leg.

And there were at least three huge holes punched clean through his torso.

A state so horrific that for an ordinary human, it would be an instant death in practice.

Yet Karaan was alive.

"......Just like the rumors. That fame didn’t come out of nowhere."

"......."

"But too bad for you. I’m not dying."

Alon quietly stared at Karaan’s body.

Not only was he alive and talking—his body was slowly recovering.

The only difference from before was—

his flesh was changing, becoming less human and more like the anomalous entities that had just been summoned.

But Alon didn’t show any surprise or shock at that.

To begin with, Alon had found it easy to predict Karaan would have a hidden move like this.

For someone supposedly without power, Karaan’s behavior had been far too bold, and he’d been overflowing with confidence even with Alon right in front of him.

So to Alon, Karaan’s current state was nothing more or less than proof that his read hadn’t been wrong.

"What are you planning to do by regenerating on your own? Looks like I dealt with most of the anomalous entities you summoned."

"Huh—don’t worry. Even aside from the creations you killed, there are still plenty left to scatter around."

Kwaddeudeuk—!

As if to prove it wasn’t a lie, anomalous entities started pouring out from the outer grounds of the royal palace.

"......So there were two summoning circles."

"Too bad."

Karaan wore a cheerful smile.

"Now, watch with your own two eyes. The moment the creations rule this city with fear, that one will appear. Ah—"

He was grinning, but he looked emotionally on the brink.

Unlike the smile on his face, his eyes were full of confusion and doubt.

"—No, no. Should I be asking first whether you’ll even be able to see it?"

As Alon watched Karaan, he suddenly realized the anomalous entities—creations of Divine blood—had already gathered around him.

"......."

Even by a rough count, it looked like well over a hundred.

Alon stared at the things approaching from afar, their massive bodies making grotesque footfalls—

then looked back at Karaan, who was sneering while hiding a tangle of emotions, and said,

"Do you think I can’t deal with them?"

"Of course not. After watching your power with my own eyes, there’s no way I’d think that. You’ll probably be able to wipe these things out again and again. But—"

Karaan’s mouth curled.

"But can you keep doing it a hundred times? Two hundred?"

As he muttered, magic circles like before began appearing one after another behind him.

"The army of that one is endlessly vast—far beyond what you think. What I called here is only a small part of it."

"......."

"Just how long do you think you can last?"

Karaan’s thinking was rational.

If what he was saying was true—

Alon wouldn’t be able to last very long against an endless army like that.

To begin with, Alon’s mana hole and Reverse Heavens weren’t suited for a prolonged fight.

Even so, Alon didn’t panic.

For two reasons.

First, because he judged there was a decent chance Karaan was dressing up lies as truth.

Divine blood had only started showing up across the continent in earnest and causing a stir about a month ago.

Of course, even before that, reports had come in that anomalous entities had appeared—

but creating that many anomalous entities in a span of only a few months was practically impossible.

And more than anything—

if Divine blood could directly handle that many anomalous entities,

then no matter how important fear-based faith was, there was no reason to only reach for Colony.

And second.

Even if every word Karaan said was true—

"Too bad, but I’m not planning to last."

Alon had no intention of holding out here in the first place.

And—

"What—?"

As Karaan frowned like he couldn’t understand what that meant—

Bzzzt—!

golden lightning—

"Master!"

—wrapped around Seollang’s entire body in gold as Seollang landed in front of Alon,

then launched, shielding him as they shot away.

"......Huh?"

Karaan could only stare blankly at the spot where Alon had vanished.

And then.

"......You bastard—!!!!"

It didn’t take Karaan long to realize that the civilians were gathered at the colosseum under the fighters’ protection—

and that he’d been played.

####

Right after escaping the royal palace with Seollang’s help—

"Thanks, Seollang."

"No, Master! More importantly—are you okay?"

"Yeah."

Alon landed in front of the colosseum, patted Seollang’s head as Seollang looked worried, and faced forward.

"......So it’s already started."

Maybe because a battle with anomalous entities had already broken out once—

the scene in front of him was a wreck.

Groans rose from everywhere.

Corpses of anomalous entities and fighters were mixed together, strewn all over.

"Marquis!"

"Are you all right?!"

As Alon silently took it in, Penia and Evan came running up in a panic.

From them, he was able to hear how things had gone without much trouble.

'First, the plan worked.'

In the end, Alon’s plan had succeeded.

While he drew Karaan’s attention and the Baba Yagas handled the soldiers so word wouldn’t reach the royal palace—

they’d evacuated all the civilians into the colosseum, preventing indiscriminate slaughter.

But even if the plan had gone the way he wanted, that didn’t mean everything was over.

To begin with, what he ★ 𝐍𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐠𝐡𝐭 ★ still had to deal with was—

"You—!"

—Divine blood.

At the voice, Alon turned his gaze.

Karaan—who had definitely been in the royal palace just moments ago—was now looking down at Alon.

"......That’s the prince?"

Just as Penia asked, the thing Karaan had become was so far from “normal” there was hardly any comparison left.

Most of his body had already warped into something similar to the anomalous entities.

And even his eyes, the last part that had seemed intact, had twisted into something eerie.

"Looks like you tried to be clever—! But that doesn’t change anything—!"

As if that madness-filled voice was a signal,

anomalous entities began closing in around the colosseum as magic circles formed one after another, like they’d been waiting.

Fighters all spat curses, and Alon held his breath to cast—

Ggud—!

Karaan’s back, staring down with eyes full of insanity, suddenly began swelling grotesquely.

"Huh?"

For a moment—

Karaan looked down at his own body with a baffled expression,

then, as if realizing what was happening—

"W-wait—! Please, hold fast! Divine blood!"

he blurted out desperately, but—

Ggud—! Ggudeudeuk—!

his body swelled even more violently.

"Divine blood! Keep your promise!! I—I’ll offer everything! I’ll offer everything of everyone here! I’ll fulfill every promise perfectly—!!"

Karaan thrashed like someone who’d sensed their own end.

But—

"Pleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleasepleaseplease—!!!!! Kyaaaaaaah—!!!"

The body, swelling out of control,

tore completely through Karaan’s skin and silenced him.

And then—

what emerged with it was—

Kwaddeudeudeudeuk—!!!

a gigantic leg.

So huge—

"Insane—"

a spider’s leg towering past the height of the colosseum as if it were nothing.

It burst out from Karaan’s body.

And then.

[Worship.]

A deep, echoing voice rang out.

As ‘that thing’ crushed Karaan’s skin like a rag and clawed its way out through a space that shouldn’t have been able to let anything through—

[I—]

at last, before Alon and the others—

[the venom-swallowing one.]

it fully revealed itself.