Chapter 352 - Claws Of The Black Thunder God (I)

Chapter 352 - Claws Of The Black Thunder God (I)

Editor Makoto

The haze that clouded over my mind cleared up and I regained clarity of the situation I was in.

As I took the madness away from the berserking Asura, I instantly went out of control myself. I vaguely remember the time of the rampage.

I fired a series of lightning bolts without chanting, mastered the use of Transform, and even used Latent Potential Release. I see, turning into a mad demon is a tremendous thing. The only thing I cared about was to fight even though I’d lost my mind and went crazy, surprisingly though I still did a good job in battle. On top of that, it felt like I unconsciously drew more power than my limit.

However, things became unclear right after. I busted through Xellos Reed... but then what happened? As far as I could recall, I was struck by a sensation of something with tremendous power flooding out from inside me - a sensation I had never experienced before.

That’s right, something about it forced my body into a form of a wolf. But the berserk me and that something deep inside was fighting for control of our wolven body and I ended up being unable to move well.

After that, I found myself lying on the ground, in a half-broken state with my sword blade in tatters. Perhaps, using Latent Potential Release for an extended period of time reduced the endurance value and that’s what released the mad demonization... I had less than a hundred left in my endurance value left. I only had a small amount of magic power left, and the regeneration of the broken sword blade still has not begun.

Just what exactly happened right before that...? No, it doesn’t matter at the moment. Xellos Reed and Kiara were still in combat in front of me.

Moreover, Kiara was in a pinch. It seemed that she did as I told her to and kept on using the Senkai Jinrai, but any more continuous use of it would put her life in danger. That’s why I tried to speak to her by telekinesis.........

“Guuhh!”

An excruciating pain overwhelmed me. It wasn’t physical pain. It felt like a mysterious pain that I will experience every time I exceeded my limits. I don’t know how many times I’ve felt this today. Regardless, I can’t hesitate here. I endured the intense pain as if it was directly cutting into my soul and sent a telepathic message to Kiara.

Even though she was in the middle of a battle, Kiara still responded promptly.

(This old lady is already nearing her grave. Can you help me use this little bit of life I have left?)

That being said, I couldn’t tell her to stop deploying her skills any further. That would be disrespectful to someone who was prepared to die.

“......I see. I understand. Then can you lend me that little bit of life? To defeat Xellos Reed.”

(Fuhahaha, that’s good, fine! Then what do you want me to do? Use the rest of my life as you see fit!)

“First, pick me up. But don’t equip me. If someone tried to equip me other than Fran, only disaster will occur.”

I’ve actually been trying to use telekinesis for a while now, trying to endure that soul-rending pain, but I’m barely able to use it. If I really forced it, I could use it, but then I wouldn’t last long enough for my attack to reach Xellos Reed.

Therefore, I am working with Kiara here. Have Kiara carry me without Xellos Reed knowing and inject all of the power that remained in me before her time runs out.

“And then, all you have to do is throw me at him when you see an opening.'”

(Is that all?)

“Ou”

(I get it)

It was the only way that Kiara, who was already half-dead and half-alive, and me, who had lost most of my abilities, could possibly defeat Xellos Reed.

(Got it!)

Nice! Kiara picked me up firmly as she fought. Seeing this, Xellos Reed gave her a slight look of alarm.

He was probably aware that the attack inflicted by me earlier had the effect of breaking evil manifestations.

“Seems like you’ve got your eye on that sword. However, how could a broken sword, which has almost no magical power, be useful? It definitely looked almost broken or something. I presume the magic power must have been really low too.”

“Haaaa!”

“Haha! I didn’t know you could still make that move!”

There’s plenty of leeway for that Xellos Reed guy. The high ranking evil man seemed to feel very little pain, and his strength was bottomless. Maybe he wasn’t a worldly creature to begin with. Even if his evil spirit was reduced now due to repeated fierce battles, he might still be able to recover with a simple rest just like human strength and magic power.

If that was truly the case, then this fight is really just a game to him. Playing with the powerful without fear of death. But I’m going to make you lower your guard!

“Sh*t! Rolling black thunder!”

“Mu!”

Good! I groaned unintentionally.

Kiara took a slightly larger swing at first, slashing head-on, breathless as she did so. It appeared like a weak attack. However, the slash was an invitation for Xellos Reed into a trap. Xellos Reed put only the slightest amount of force into his hand holding the great sword, intending to clash head on.

But the moment both swords struck each other, Kiara moved fast with a black lightning roll and got behind him. Xellos Reed, who had been putting a lot of effort into preparing for the coming slash, was momentarily delayed in his reaction to Kiara as he turned around.

By then, it was already after Kiara had thrown me toward Xellos Reed.

“aaaaaaaaaaa!”

I’m going to use all the power I had left to activate Morphological Transformation. The true projection of the attack is of a thousand needles shredding into the body of the opponent. But right now, I could only be transformed into ten strands of half-hearted thickness.

Moreover, neither my momentum nor my sharpness was sufficient to penetrate Xellos Reed. Still, I didn’t give up and wrapped myself around Xellos Reed’s body.

Damn it! I need to twist with more power! Get thinner, sharper, and eat up Xellos Reed! In response to my intentions, the part that wrapped around his right leg turned into a needle and bit into Xellos Reed.

Was it a result of the injury? The sword, which would have initially missed by an inch, had suddenly changed its angle and succeeded in slashing off Xellos Reed’s left arm.

“Gyaaaaaaaaaaa!”

Xellos Reed screamed in agony. Even an attack with Breakthrough Evil Manifestation should not have made him shown such distraught. But it couldn’t be helped. After all, Xellos Reed’s evil spirit was already gobbled up and reduced.

“Wh- why haven’t you died yet?”

It seemed that Xellos Reed was still trying to regenerate the wound by holding his left arm in place. But the skin in the cut did not respond at all. To begin with, the area around the wound didn’t seem to attract any evil spirits anymore.

Apparently, the sacred atmosphere I felt earlier was not just my imagination. It seemed that the Claws Of The Black Thunder God was able to fight evil power more than Breakthrough Evil Manifestation.

“Fuha...”

Kiara collapsed with a satisfied look on her face. However I just didn’t have any strength left to use my [Heal] anymore.

“Master! Kiara!”

“No, more than me, Kiara......”

“Guuoooo!”

You sure can’t read the atmosphere! Xellos Reed stared at me with an abhorrent expression as he held the wound on his left arm that was cut off. But it wasn’t as intimidating as it was earlier.

“No way... using divine attributes... Maybe it’s true what they say about beastmans being descendants of Divine Beasts... I’ll leave for now, but be prepared for our next clash! Tell that old hag that I won’t lose next time!

He got away. No, more like he ran away, . Actually, even though Fran came back, if he was really desperate enough and wanted to fight back without regard for anything else, he would still give us a heavy blow. Hence, it helped that he escaped instead.

“Kiara...”

(Master... we did it...)

“But you...”

(I am content. I was able to unleash the full power of the Black Heavenly Tiger. We had a good fight at the end, too.)

“...you are... really cool you know.”

(Kuhaha... that was the best compliment I’ve ever gotten...)

Fran ran up to Kiara, who was lying on her back.

“Kiara! Kiara!”

“Yo, Fran...”

“I’ll heal you now!”

“It’s useless...”

Fran ignored Kiara’s words and used a series of Greater Heal. However, there was no sign that Kiara would recover. That couldn’t be helped. After all, her life force was exhausted. Kiara was technically already dead, and the dead couldn’t be brought back to life.

Rather, I didn’t understand why she could still speak.

“...For a short time...it was fun...”

“Ugu... Kiara...”

“Even though we’re not directly blood related, you’re all like my grandchildren.”

“Un”

“Revenge...is just a worthless endeavor...”

“Un”

“Be strong... gentle, cool... live freely...”

Then... Kiara’s words ended there, as she exhaled her last breath.

The vitality keeping her together to speak her last words visibly drained from her entire body. Her eyes, which were already flickering as they struggled to stay open, gently closed, as if she was finally at ease.

“Kiara?”

“...”

“Kiara!”

Fran’s cries for her would no longer garner any response from Kiara.

She had departed with a peaceful face, with a smile lingering on it.

“Guuuu...... Aaaaa......”

The large tears that flowed down from Fran’s eyes stained Kiara’s chest. And just like that, Fran plopped down onto Kiara’s chest, with a face befitting her age, and began to cry loudly.

“Uwaaaaaaa......”