Volume 2, Chapter 35: Feast of Revenant Dragon ①
Manzi straddled the back of the calamity horse, Troy, as he passed the ruined streets of Barreira City.
The three eyes on Troy’s head squirmed around, and the drool continued to drip down from its mouth.
The human face on Troy’s front chest screamed with an indescribable laughing voice.
Though he normally didn’t care about that laugh, Manzi was extremely irritated right now.
‘Gimme a break! I just went to the earl’s mansion to play around, and yet, why the hell have I never heard about THAT monster?! And no one ever told me about THAT either!’
The reason why Manzi went in person to the earl’s mansion wasn’t that they lacked manpower to overrun it.
He only wanted to find a fairly powerful human to fight his enhanced undead.
Moreover, what Manzi loved the most was seeing faces filled with despair upon witnessing his power.
Thus, he went to the earl’s mansion, hoping to encounter that kind of situation.
His eyes darted around as Troy ran along the street of Barreira City.
He had spread so many undead throughout Barreira City prior to the operation, and yet, he couldn’t even see a shadow of them right now.
All of them had already turned back into motionless corpses.
A woman ran on the sidewalk while calling the name of someone who was most likely her child. Others were pulling the corpses of their comrades with blank looks on their faces.
When Earl Mondo’s private army, who did their job to maintain security and helped civilians, saw Manzi with his suspicious appearance and horse, they were shouting toward him.
Although those heartbreaking spectacles were what Manzi loved the most in normal situations, the woman who called their child’s name and the people who pulled the corpses of their comrade were non-combatants. Since they were hiding in the buildings during the riot, they were safe to go out after the riot ended.
In short, almost all undead in the area had already been dealt with.
‘Does that mean all those undead that I created painstakingly have… already turned back into nothing more than a pile of corpses? Even though I went so far as to lend death black crystals to my subordinates… All of those guys turned out to be trash!’
The death black crystals were round crystals made from Manzi’s mana through sorcery invoked with Guiref’s Grimoire as the intermediary.
These crystals had the power to control several undead at once.
That was large-scale necromancy that became the core of Manzi’s plan.
He created 10 death black crystals and entrusted them to his subordinates, who were spread around different corners of the city. Yet, no matter how long Troy ran, Manzi saw nothing but piles of corpses after corpses.
Glasco led the private army of Earl Mondo to successfully destroy one of the death black crystals. The other major guilds who were lucky enough to escape from the sad fate of becoming Manzi’s undead joined hands with the other smaller guilds and managed to overwhelm the undead army with their skill and numbers. In total, they destroyed another three death black crystals.
As for Robin Hood, he destroyed two death black crystals all by himself.
Then, as for Lambert, on top of single-handedly destroying four death black crystals, he also turned the tables and killed Adamaria, the right hand of one of Eight Wisemen, Manzi, in her own game. Lastly, he even forced Manzi to escape from the earl’s mansion.
‘Why are there only corpses here? Those useless lackeys should’ve prepared the stage properly. There should be no problem in the plan since the loss of small fries can be replaced as much as we want. Though we somehow missed the information about that bastard who calls himself Lambert, I should’ve already accomplished my mission in Barriera City.’
Manzi revealed an ugly smile on his face.
His bloodshot eyes were filled with insanity.
The reason he came personally to the earl’s mansion was truly just to play around.
Manzi’s goal was to thoroughly destroy Barreira City, the capital of adventurer in Regios Kingdom, until it was beyond repair.
That was why as long as he created several mountains of corpses in Barreira City, one could say that Manzi had completed his mission.
And since that condition had already been fulfilled during preparations, all that was left was waiting for them to wreak havoc in the city.
Manzi raised his face to look up at the sky.
The night had just begun. The silver moon illuminated Barreira City with its gentle light.
‘The time has come. Now, the moment when the full moon shines over the city, it’s the moment when the boundary between reality and Hades is at its closest! I’ve gathered plenty of corpses. Time to end this farce… and turn this Barreira City into Hell on Earth with this Guiref’s Grimoire! Well, the reason I took this mission was simply that I wanted to see that again! Now let’s see that self-proclaimed Lambert’s desperate figure when he tries to stop me!’
Six adventurers were chasing after Manzi who rode on a calamity horse; each one of them was also riding a horse.
Every single one of them was equipped with bow and arrows.
「THAT’S HIM, THAT BASTARD MUST BE ONE OF THOSE GUYS WHO CONTROLS THAT UNDEAD THOSE UNDEAD!」
「KILL!」「AVENGE OUR GUILD MASTER!」
Manzi sneered at them as he turned the page in Guiref’s Grimoire.
「Heed my call and come from the abyss O’ guardian of the gate, Cerberus.」
The next moment, countless particles of light gathered together, forming an almost three hein(meter)-long, savage-looking dog with two heads.
It was one of Guiref’s 13 spirits, Cerberus of the fifth.
The drool dripping from its mouth melted the ground where it fell; its four bloodshot eyes were locked on its prey.
Cerberus was pelted with arrows, but they weren’t strong enough to pierce its tough skin.
「W-WHAT THE HELL IS THIS MONSTER?!」
The man who led the adventurers shouted in shock.
Seeing Cerberus crouching down as if it was about to pounce on them, they abandoned their bows and grabbed their swords.
Cerberus stopped the sword strike with its teeth and swung its head to the side, dragging down the man from his horse.
Without a moment of delay, they used their tough claws to slap the head of the man who just fell from his horse.
The poor man’s head was crushed like a tomato. It was an instant death.
Moreover, Cerberus’ other head ate the man’s crushed head.
Cerberus slurped the grey matter that came out from the man’s head, leaving a stain around its mouth.
And then, its eyes locked on the other five remaining adventurers.
The fighting spirit of the other five adventurers diminished after they witnessed such a gruesome scene.
Cerberus sprung forward, landing behind one of the adventurers who tried to escape.
Pieces of flesh scattered along with a spray of fresh blood as the man fell from his horse.
The horse who also got involved in that attack was sliced from its thigh till the area around its abdomen, spilling its guts as it convulsed and neared death.
「Hyohoho… I can’t play with you weaklings any longer since I’m in a hurry.」
Manzi had only spared a glance toward them. Though he looked happy despite what he said, his face stiffened when he saw the figure who was running behind the five adventurers.
Unlike the adventurers who tried to escape from Cerberus to save their dear lives, the figure of the man riding on the back of a giant warhorse was heading toward Cerberus.
「Who’s not going to lose their fighting spirit after seeing that? Is he a big shot, or simply just an idiot—」
Manzi rubbed his eyes.
His eyesight wasn’t that good due to his age.
In addition, the distance between him and that mysterious man was still quite far.
For that reason…
Manzi missed the fact that the part from the neck above of the horse was missing.
He only saw a man riding a giant war horse as he hoisted his greatsword.
The rider was trying to increase the running speed of his horse while at the same time increasing the momentum for his next attack.
The giant warhorse passed through as if they didn’t see Cerberus who blocked the path in front of them.
Thus, Manzi had no idea what was happening there.
By the next moment, he saw that Cerberus had already been bisected right in half from the base of their two necks all the way till their tail.
「GYUIIIN!」
The two heads that fell on both sides raised an agonizing wail before they vanished.
Bluish-black blood spilled from the cross-section that had yet to vanish.
And then, it finally died.
Cerberus was sent back to Hades after it lost the power that fixed its existence in this world.
‘He trampled Cerberus underfoot as if it was just a mere weak puppy?! Could it be that he’s actually…’
Manzi groaned.
He chewed on his lips as his gaze moved onto the figure that just slayed Cerberus.
It was none other than the figure of a tall man wrapped in peculiar armor, the very same man who cornered Manzi just a while ago, the self-proclaimed Lambert.
In addition, the neck part and above of the horse’s head was nonexistent.
「W-WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!」
Manzi screamed at the top of his lungs.
Riding on the back of a headless horse, the man wrapped in full-plate armor came at Manzi like a reaper.
Though there were still some adventurers, the private army of Earl Mondo, and citizens nearby, the man in full-plate armor didn’t seem to care about them as he boldly straddled on the back of headless, giant warhorse.
As a result, the citizens screamed at the top of their lungs upon seeing a giant headless horse running along the streets of Barreira City.