Chapter 589

Chapter 589

Thud, thud-thud...

As if an earthquake had occurred, the body of the King of Flies was sucked into the city, causing severe tremors.

The massive bulk overturned the ground, raising a dense cloud of dust.

Within that grey-brown dust cloud spreading like fog, people slumped here and there, unable to recover from the shock, dazedly scanning their surroundings.

And then,

Thud! Thud! Thud...!

From within that dust cloud, the King of Flies's hundreds of legs simultaneously touched the ground, slowly lifting its collapsed bulk.

"Uwaaaah!"

"Eeeek...!"

"It's moving! Run away!"

Terrified, people scattered like a swarm of ants.

The already gigantic body of the King of Flies looked even more massive within the dust cloud, with only its silhouette visible.

The sight of its hundreds of legs moving all at once made it look even more grotesque.

Sschk! Sschk-schk-schk!

Hundreds of legs moved chaotically, snagging unlucky people who came within their range.

Captured and dragged away, people screamed.

"Arghhhhh!"

"Save me, save me! I don't want to die!"

"Stay calm! I heard the King of Flies only kidnaps, it doesn't kill right away!"

A soldier shouted, based on the information he had heard. A flicker of faint hope crossed the faces of those who heard him.

"Is, is that true?!"

"Yes! The prince has already rescued quite a few people! So, let's stay calm. After all, if you keep your wits about you, even if you're thrown into a tiger's den, you can survive..."

However,

Crunch-

"What? What what what?"

The strength surged into the Fly's legs, and lifting the soldier who shared that information high, it then slammed him down onto the ground.

Splat-!

The soldier was instantly killed, reduced to a bloody mess.

The faces of the other captives went pale all at once.

"What, what's this..."

"Kidnapping, you said it doesn't kill immediately... what is this...?"

The reason the King of Flies had not immediately killed its victims but kidnapped them was simple.

After merging with a demon species, the imp, it acquired the ability 'Sacrifice.'

To use this ability to drain the power of its victims, it needed to offer the 'live sacrifices' captured at an 'altar' through a series of rituals.

Thus, instead of killing the sacrifices outright, it paralyzed them and kidnapped them to the hatching chamber, which served as the altar, where it would then devour them.

But now, with the hatching chamber destroyed and a shortage of maggots to consume the sacrifices,

It couldn't absorb them as 'sacrifices.' That's why there was no need to keep the humans alive any longer.

Just tearing them to pieces was enough...!

Roarrrrrr-!

Thump! Splat! Crunch-!

The King of Flies roared and mercilessly slaughtered the people who came within the range of its legs.

The unprecedented situation of the entire southern wall of Crossroad collapsing. It was a situation too overwhelming for even the most veteran heroes and soldiers to keep their composure, and the casualties rapidly increased.

"Fall back-!"

"Retreat from the King of Flies's attack range!"

By the time the soldiers had managed to retreat from the King of Flies, hundreds of corpses had already piled up around them.

As the human army retreated,

Thud-thud, thud-thud-thud...

The King of Flies, moving its hundreds of legs in unison, slowly lifted its body within the dust cloud, sitting down 'like a human.'

In this series of movements, the soldiers unconsciously thought it resembled a human flicking a fly off a chair before sitting down.

Click-

The King of Flies sat cross-legged as if meditating, while the rest of its legs gathered in front of its chest as if in prayer.

Then it roared again.

Roarrrrrrr...!

With the roar, the dust cloud spread out wide and round. The sound was deep and majestic enough to spread beyond Crossroad, across the entire southern part of the continent.

And everywhere that sound reached.

Roarrrr!

Roarrrrrrr!

From the smallest flies to the giant flies living in the wild. Every fly species living in the present world.

Began to swarm, pouring towards the King of Flies.

"This, what is this..."

"What in the world...?!"

The soldiers let out perplexed groans.

Flies are found everywhere.

Moreover, it was late summer, a hot season buzzing with flies.

Not just in the city, but from every hill and dale, at the call of the king, flies and maggots swarmed out, flying and crawling towards the King of Flies.

The human soldiers could only watch this bizarre sight of flies filling the sky, not knowing what to do.

***

In front of this horrific, end-of-the-world scene, the magicians could only look around, not knowing what to do.

Then,

Buzz!

Buzzzz!

Lying in the courtyard of the lord's mansion, seemingly dead, the zombie flies' eyes suddenly lit up, and they all took to the air at once.

The magicians panicked.

"What the?! Who finished the zombie spell?!"

"No, nobody did! The zombies are acting on their own...!"

"Stop them! Stop everything right now! Force a halt to all operations!"

"No, we can't! It's unstoppable! They're no longer listening to our commands...!"

Roarrrr-

Dozens of zombie flies that had taken to the air formed a formation and then swiftly darted towards the magicians.

"Aaaagh!"

"Save us!"

The magicians screamed as they rolled on the ground, but the original targets of the zombie flies were not them.

It was the magical machinery containing the original White Night.

Crash-crack-boom!

The machinery, mauled by the flies, exploded.

After destroying the entity that could be considered their original, the dozens of zombie flies drifted into the air.

And just like the other flies, they neatly crossed the sky towards the King of Flies.

"..."

The magicians watched their departing figures in a daze.

***

In the collective consciousness of the King of Flies, somewhere within.

"You digested me...? Haha, don't make me laugh,"

With only her upper body, one arm, and half a head remaining, White Night crawled on the floor, limping.

"I'm the Grand Sorceress, White Night... You think I'd be defeated by mere flies..."

After being torn to pieces mentally by the old fly and swallowed,

At the bottom of this spiritual world, presumed to be the belly of the beast, White Night managed to gather and merge her torn self to regain this much form.

Even in this state, White Night was plotting a counterattack.

'That blond bastard knight of Ash... he had prepared more copies of me.'

She had noticed that a long time ago. They were ready to use her as ammunition for replication.

Well, then she would make use of that.

She would pour all her replicated consciousness into the King of Flies, forcibly seizing control of the King of Flies if he had to.

"After all, if I can wrest control of the King of Flies by any means, rather than being defeated by such flies and eaten forever..."

If she could find an opportunity for a counterattack and take revenge on Ash, who had pushed him into this hell.

What couldn't she do? It was a fight where she had nothing more to lose anyway.

So, as the King of Flies transmitted the conscription order to all flies in the area, White Night also sneakily sent out her signal.

With a unique frequency that only she could detect...

If that blond knight bastard had properly prepared more of her copies, it would have worked. Other versions of herself would come storming into this place.

Now, all that remained was to wait for the moment to strike back.

"Anyway, where is this...?"

White Night looked around, lifting her head.

The bottom of the King of Flies's collective consciousness was dark and gloomy. Though there couldn't possibly be a smell, the air felt damp and nauseatingly unpleasant.

Just as White Night thought to herself that she would burn down this collective consciousness and everything if she could just seize control of the monster,

"Where could it be?"

Suddenly.

From the bottom, someone's voice was heard.

"This place is where the 'remains' that the old fly ate and digested gather."

Startled, White Night quickly turned towards the voice.

In the dark, reeking of blood, the form of something appeared.

"Beneath the consciousness, at the very bottom, where the truly sinister intentions pool... one might call it the subconscious."

It was a throne.

Made from the heads of flies eaten by the old fly.

A throne of skulls, erected solely from the devoured heads, upon which some being sat like a king, murmuring in a voice that contrasted its light tone with gravity.

"I simply call it the sedimentation area."

Despite having no saliva to swallow, White Night, unknowingly making a swallowing gesture, asked in a trembling voice.

"Who are you? What are you?"

"...Well. I've forgotten my name. Such things are no longer important."

The being narrowed its eyes.

"But, there is something I do remember clearly."

Rising slowly from the throne, a massive horn that emitted a brilliant darkness sprouted atop the being's head.

"What I must destroy."

The being smiled.

"And, whom I must kill."

--TL Notes--

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you want to support me or give me feedback, you can do it at /MattReading