Chapter 500 - Sigil Monster (part 1)

*CRUNCH*

"...!"

Persimmon Kabut gritted his teeth and jumped back, as his trusty sword broke apart in the jaws of the truly disturbing monster.

The creature was comprised mostly of hundreds of thousands of crimson threads that worked together similar to human muscles, besides the mass of threads ceaselessly coiling around themselves the beast had something that could be described as a humanoid body but the sheer number of blades protruding from every available inch of its body made it look more like a furious metal porcupine - the crunching sound that resounded through the are was the result of that very creature chomping down on Persimmon's weapon.

If the armored man did not let go of it the moment that the monstrosity get a hold of it, he would surely lose an entire arm.

The weapon was important for a warrior but there were obvious boundaries to that rule.

Well, if he swore on his life to protect the blade, things would be different - but the sword was given to him in order to protect his life, not the other way around.

Persimmon's real problem would begin only now.

His master used the power of the sigil monster they've kept in the basement for almost half a decade and was fighting with the blue undead - almost completely destroying his own mansion as well as killing a staggering amount of the already brainwashed low-level slaves.

This was a bitter disappointment for Persimmon as Durian, his master whom the warrior swore the oath of loyalty, had to give Persimmon his word to not treat any of the slaves like disposable pieces.

The honor of Greeds goes only lasts until their desires are granted and they will abandon everything else if their greed can be satiated even a little bit.

Persimmon held back a sight.

He was aware that Durian's desire was for the respect won in battle - but that's was exactly why he held such high hopes for his master.

"..."

The warrior shook his head and focused back on the creature in front of him - without a doubt, it was the most dangerous being that he ever had to face.

Persimmon's danger detection skill was screaming for him to run away, but the heart of the warrior remained untainted by the cowardly thoughts.

Even without his trusted sword, he was not left without any means of attack.

The armored man closed his eyes, concentrating on the skills he honed just as much as his swordsmanship, the array of curses and unarmed techniques that would give him at least a chance against this...

*gulp*

"Yaaay! I did it! I got the sword without harming the wielder! Master will praise me!"

In the place of the most disturbing mass of crimson threads and blades, a short young woman was standing throwing her hands in the air and cheering, with absolutely no indication of willingness to continue the fight...

"...huh...?"

If it was some sort of clever ploy to make Persimmon drop his guard - it worked.

The armored man lowered his hands and gasped in absolute confusion.

If it was just a trick - he would understand - but even his danger detection skill had stopped showing the young woman as a threat that she was just a few seconds before.

"...wait... she did what her master said...?"

Persimmon furrowed his brows and glance over his shoulder at the remains of the mansion amongst which the blue undead and a muscular man with a sigil charred into his bare chest were fighting.

"Hold on! You actually were serious about only disarming me?! That wasn't just a trick of that undead?!"

The armored warrior straightened his back, following the example of the cheering girl, and asked her in disbelief.

"Umm...? Yeah...? Master wants you to join that red girl, after all."

The crimson-haired girl flinched as if she only then remembered that Persimmon was still there, and she said tilting her head as if she didn't quite understand the warrior's confusion.

"...!"

It was Persimmon's turn to flinch.

He slowly turned around to look at the blue undead who was being ragdolled around the ruins of the mansion, pulled around by a tentacle-like appendage that Durian created out of the red and black smoke.

"Kopia! If you finished over there, could you finally let us go help my husband?!"

"!!!"

Someone's angry shout made the armored warrior look past the crimson-haired girl, and only then did he realize that his currently docile former opponent was still using some of her strange powers, just not against him.

What she was doing instead was using her hair to bind and trap her own comrades - and not just the red-haired girl that arrived together with the blue undead, but Luke and Mia too - she even got the girl that was supposed to be wed to Durian, as well as the girl's griffin, the silver haired-old man, and even the blond-haired young man.

...for whatever reason, the blond youth was dangling head down because the thread keeping a hold on him was coiled around his ankle which made it look like he snuck by before and was captured and dragged back to the rest.

"Help master...?"

The crimson-haired girl called Kopia tilted her head and furrowed her brows as if she had a hard time understanding what the girl calling herself the blue undead's wife had shouted to her.

Kopia went ahead and dragged everyone closer to her and Persimmon and tilted her head to the other side.

"Red girl, why do you want to interfere with my master's training?"

She ended up asking the red-haired girl.

"What training?! He is my familiar, I can see his HP! He gets beaten up so bad that he only has a sliver of it left!"

The red-haired girl shouted furiously, repeatedly slamming into the crimson thread with her bulky scepter.

"No, no. He is training right now. Also - he has a promise to keep too."

Kopia shook her head and refuted the other girl's argument without giving it any thoughts.

"What promise?!"

The other girl shouted furiously.

"Nnnn... I don't remember, something about a hand of the bald guy."

Kopia shrugged her shoulders and explained.

*RUMBLE*

She closed her mouth just in time for a huge tremor to shake the ground...

*BOOOOOM*

"!!!!!"

Everyone turned towards the source of the new explosion and saw the blue undead kicking off the ground, launching himself into the air.

*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM*

"DEAR SYSTEM ALMIGHTY!"

"!!!!!"

Carambola gasped as the remains of the mansion literally erupted and got thrown into the night sky - together with Durian - and what burst forth from underneath it was a huge holster with a sigil burning in the middle of its forehead.

"DIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!"

Roared the humanoid-shaped gigantic beast, opening its jaws in an attempt to swallow Durian whole.

"AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!"

Durian cried out as the blue undead got on top of his mushy half-melted body and kicked him down the beast's throat.

"ZOMBIE! WATCH OUT!"

"...?"

The red-haired girl still in Kopia's binding shouted a warning in an urgent voice, but it was too late...

*CHOMP*

*GULP*

The sigil monster closed its jaws with a snapping noise and the blue undead got swallowed whole.