Chapter 345: Zombie in the hidden village (4) / Sigil monster (3)

*BOOOOOOOOM*

The deafening explosion resounded in the air and at the same time the temperature has shot up through the entire area, as the impossibly powerful extremely high-tier flame skill activated on top of the red and black half-transparent dome that has cut off the old training ground from the rest of the village.

"Tsk...! FUCKING PIECE OF SHIT!

*WHAM*

Olive clicked his tongue but as that was a far too insufficient method of venting out the fury that he felt once he realized that his most powerful skill didn't have any effect whatsoever, he let out a furious roar and kicked at the smoke-like barrier.

...but the only outcome he achieved was pushing himself away from the dome even though he had the rooted skill active...

"OLIVE! WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU DOING?! MY CRANBERRY IS IN THERE!"

Well... not really the only outcome... there was a secondary effect in form of a tall, purple-haired elf's, bolting through half of the village, hurting his throat with a shout that was a mixture of both anger and worry.

"Shut the fuck up and help me break through this shit!"

Since the purple-haired elf got to Olive's side within a single heartbeat, there was no need for the old elf to shout back – but merely lowering his volume didn't mean that he suddenly became calm.

Far from it.

"The hell?! CRANBERRY!"

The purple-haired elf glared at Olive before getting all of his attention pulled to what was happening inside the red and black dome.

"THE FUCK IS THAT ANT?! IS-"

*WHAM*

"IS THAT A HUMAN?! THE FUCK IS GOING ON?! DID HUMANS BROKE THROUGH TO THE VILLAGE AND BROUGHT MONSTERS WITH THEM?!

The purple-haired elf shouted, slamming his fist against the barrier, but that action brought just about the same result as Olive's flame skill and then the kick – nothing.

"...fucking... yeah, right, a fucking six-year-old marched through all of my barriers and even brought a FUCKING SIGIL MONSTER! YOU'RE THE ARCHIVE KEEPER, AREN'T YOU?! YOU SHOULD KNOW WHAT THIS BARRIER AND MONSTER WITH A FUCKING BURNING MARK ON THE FUCKING FOREHEAD MEANS?! DON'T PULL AN INNOCENT KID INTO THE MIX! IDIOT GOOSEBERRY!"

Despite his age, Olive could not keep his nerves at bay in the current situation and he scream his lungs at the purple-haired elf, stunning him, and every other elf gathered by the red and black dome, momentarily – if any villager were to pick one man who has had the shorter fuse, they would undoubtedly pick Gooseberry, so such behavior on Olive's part was strange, to say the least.

"...why are both of you scre- OH, MY FUCKING SYSTEM! WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?! ZOMBIE?!"

Mirabelle who only then managed to get to the barrier, since her physical abilities even though enhanced by various skills were inferior to the capabilities of the purple-haired librarian – but then she herself raised her voice to a panicked scream once she saw a giant jet-black ant with demonic-looking blood-red horns growing out of its carapace chasing a fleeing brown-haired human boy who was glowing with a violet light while carrying a powder-pink-haired elven boy bigger than himself!

"WHY IS HE THERE?! WHY IS THERE A MONSTER?!"

Panicked Mirabelle grabbed onto Olive's clothes and shook him back and forth.

"I don't know why the kid is there... And about the monster... there was an anthill underneath our village but I am sure that I set up illusions and traps under the surface too so that no ant would pass through... But I guess that Eternal's power can make a monster immune to those."

Olive grabbed onto Mirabelle's wrists, making her stop shoving him around, and explained.

"What the fuck is an Eternal?!"

The woman asked in confusion.

"That..."

"CRANBERRY!"

*WHAM*

Olive was about to explain but he was interrupted by Gooseberry calling out to his son, fruitlessly attempting to break through the barrier again.

"!!!!"

That made brought Olive and Mirabelle's attention back to the red and black dome just in time to witness Zombie's stomach getting terribly close to being sliced open by the demon-ant mandibles while he desperately raised the powder-pink-haired elven boy above his head to protect him.

"I swear if that human will get my Cranberry in harm's way...!"

Gooseberry growled through his teeth and...

*SMASH*

'The fuck did you say?!"

Mirabelle, without as much as giving Gooseberry a warning, grabbed his head and slammed his forehead against the smoke barrier – it didn't damage the barrier in any way, but it certainly did cause Gooseberry's head to gain a large growing bump.

"Look at it you facking moron! Look! The human kid is trying to save your son!"

The village elder's voice was brimming with contempt.

"And he'd better succeed or the monster won't be his biggest problem! Now, let me go before I get angry."

The purple-haired elf scoffed and moved away from the furious Mirabell, easily freeing himself from her grip on his own.

"...you - FUCKING...!"

"Mira. Calm down."

Olive grabbed her shoulder and shook his head.

"Gooseberry – why won't you finally use some of your strength and break through this thing, or do you actually want your son to die there?"

Then he frowned and scoffed at the purple-haired elf, glaring down at him provocatively.

"...fuck off..."

Gooseberry grumbled back and looked away.

"What the fuck is going on?! Weren't you always boasting that your attack skills are stronger than Olive's? What, don't tell me you actually want your son to d..."

"Don't say another word or you're dead, village elder or not."

Mirabelle gritted her teeth and chose to turn to mockery to prompt Gooseberry to action, but the only effect was the purple-haired man's body to start glowing white, but the activated skills were all ready to be used against the woman.

"Don't you fucking dare."

Olive stepped in front of Mirabelle, shielding her from the potential danger.

"Explain."

He added while activating his own skills, fully ready to strike back.

"...No attacks will work on the barrier made out of the overflown energy of Eternal because..."

Gooseberry gave up, deactivated his skills, and started talking, while constantly glancing at the deadly chase gong o inside the barrier when...

"...!"

The ant finally managed to get the human boy's leg, causing him to fall down, but not before he threw the elven boy as far away as he could.

"Somebody do something...!"

One of the villagers cried out in panic and closed her eyes, not wanting to witness the human boy getting mangled alive probably only a second before the ant would get to the elven boy...

But she was the only one who did that.

"!!!!!!!"

And that's why she was the only one who missed the eruption of violet light exploding out of the human boy's body and the moment that he drew out his one-handed sword that flashed white and transformed into a black blade more than three times as long as the boy's body, hitting the demon ant and sending it crashing against the very wall that all the elves were standing by.

"?!?!?!?!?!?!?!"

Everyone witnessing the scene got so shocked they even forgot to exclaim verbally and just jolted back and gasped without uttering a single word.

But that certainly wasn't the human boy's only action.

With his foot barely connected to the rest of his leg, he charged at the ant that was slowly getting up, and both his eyes and the enormous sword flashed with white light.

"!!!!!"

The flurry of attacks that followed made everyone aside from the three strongest elves – Mirabelle, Olive, and Gooseberry – to back away in pure shock.

Each swing was shaving off different pieces of the ant's exoskeleton, its parts started flying around and bouncing off of the red and black barrier as well as the ground, constantly releasing more and more red and black smoke that would then get absorbed by the barrier.

No sound could escape or pass through the barrier, but it wasn't hard to guess from all the wriggling the ant did that it was screeching from the excruciating pain.

Finally, after meticulously cutting all of the bug's thin legs the boy stepped back and winded up for a finishing blow, the blade, and the human boy's eyes shone with white light while his body was continuously producing a vibrant violet glow that could easily be mistaken for a thick smoke.

*SHIIING*

While no one could actually hear the blade made that sound, somehow everybody watching felt it in the core of their bodies.

A destructive cleave that split the demon ant's carapace cleanly in half, right through the red mark burning bright on the monster's head.

The bisected sigil flickered and in the next moment, all the pieces of the ant exploded into flames, and the entire red and black dome dispersed as if the red and black smoke was just an ordinary smoke and nothing else – disappearing into the thin air.

"...that was a lot more dramatic than the centipede..."

In the silence that followed, everyone could hear the weak voice of the human, swaying on his feet and mumbling to himself.

"...yeah... I know this one was... stronger..."

*thump*

He complained in a dispirited voice and fell on the ground face first.

"Zombie!"

Mirabelle rushed towards him, closely followed by Olive.