Chapter 148:

Chapter 148:

Gulping.

The creature landed on an unfortunate house. Instead of collapsing, the building flexibly absorbed the impact. With a bursting sound, the massive body spread in all directions.

The first thing the residing family noticed was a stench that seemed to rise from the sewers.

And that smell was their last.

The creature’s body quickly seeped into the building, passing through like a ghost, leaving behind only stone and furniture. Any living being it passed over dissolved into part of it.

Ooooooh!

Only upon reaching the streets did the creature start to form a proper shape. Predominantly black, it bore an indescribable eerie hue. Its form was somewhat like a quadruped bat, but its head was a misshapen mass, similar to a slug.

It was known as the Endbringer.

No one remembered who or how it got its name, but it was the apex predator among the creatures that scavenged the refuse from the bottom of Chaos.

The voice that had been calling the Endbringer was now silent. However, the place where the voice had originated still sent a disturbing sensation.

Crash! A bright bolt of lightning raced down the street, incinerating the head of the Endbringer.

The charred head vanished for a moment, then reformed into a new shape. Now, the Endbringer’s focus shifted towards the new target that had attacked it.

“Doesn’t the attack work?”

“It seems to be similar to a slime. It feels slightly less dense, though...”

Bashul observed the monster from a distance. It was about the size of a four-story building, somewhere between liquid and gas in consistency. It had appeared denser and more solid in the sky, probably due to it contorting itself to escape through the hole. But seeing that it struggled, it seemed like it had just sent whatever part of it could escape.

“It might be weaker than its main body, but miracles should still work against it.”

“Hmm.”

Waltzemer stroked Haltaba’s nape. Haltaba, sparking lightning between its horns, roared mightily, sending a bolt twice as thick as before smashing into the Endbringer’s body.

Parts of the Endbringer vanished.

However, these gaps filled back in as if water were filling a hole.

The Endbringer, undulating, twisted its body menacingly, turning its eerie eyes towards Haltaba. It harbored hostility not just towards its assailants but towards all living beings.

Whoosh. The Endbringer surged forward like the onset of night.

“Fall back!”

The soldiers quickly retreated.

They shuddered as they saw the grass and trees where the Endbringer passed dissolve cleanly away. Fortunately, the light emanating from Waltzemer’s horns hindered its approach.

Against assassins that were mere monsters or humans, the soldiers might stand a chance; but in a conflict involving mythical beings from the afterlife, there wasn’t much they could do except prevent minor creatures and spiders from encroaching with the sacred flames they bore.

Only the knights trained in miraculous combat skills were truly capable of fighting.

“Keep distracting it, Your Majesty. We will try to exploit its weakness.”

“Using the Emperor as bait?”

“He’s less noticeable than us, given all the sparkle.”

Bashul and Rene split to either side to examine the Endbringer closely. Despite their training, they were reluctant to dive into its body.

Bashul signaled Rene with hand signs when he spotted something.

Within the strange hues of the Endbringer, there was an especially dark and solid-looking area that could be its organs, or in a grotesque sense, the devil’s excrement.

Rene also saw it and prepared to move.

Haltaba’s lightning flared again. Crunch... The subsequent lightning carved holes through the Endbringer, creating less dense areas.

These gaps were daunting for ordinary people, but for Bashul and Rene, they were as wide as roads.

Without a signal, both darted forward like arrows. The mere touch of the Endbringer’s flesh was painfully searing, but not unbearable. Suddenly, an advanced sword technique known only to the Imperial Guard was activated.

Even in a vast wasteland, if there’s a needle, lightning will strike precisely there.

The tentacle ends were covered with bones, nails, and teeth of humans it had devoured. This was something he couldn’t control with ‘the color beyond’.

“Looking stupid really is a waste of brains!”

Snap, bang.

Amidst the thrashing tentacles were not only human remnants but also those of beasts and parts of unidentifiable monsters that still wriggled. It felt like fighting undigested internal organs rather than mere tentacles, but they were ferociously alive.

From afar, Bashul thought that without using high-level swordsmanship like he had, Isaac wouldn’t be able to breach the Apocalypse handler. Yet, none of the high-level techniques Isaac knew suited this situation.

In the next moment, the Apocalypse handler spewed out tentacles crazily. Hundreds of strands, each capable of easily tearing a person apart, poured down like heavy rain.

And the ring on Isaac’s right hand shattered into several fragments.

It was a ring passed to him by Dietrich.

[Broken Crystal Tombstone Fragment (S)]

[In the Crystal Battlefield, ten thousand warriors fight in ten thousand ways, tasting victory ten thousand times and facing death as many. The tombstone mourns the warriors’ deaths, fitting their bodies into flawless motions, leading to either certain victory or death.]

Isaac’s world slowed down.

At the same time, his mind raced at an extraordinary speed. His eyes wildly calculated every possible movement, the enemy’s attack directions, probabilities of being hit, stride, and sword path.

Thump. After considering hundreds of scenarios, Isaac finally took a step.

The speed was suffocatingly slow.

It was a bizarre world.

In the original game, the Broken Crystal Tombstone Fragment slowed time and sped up the character, but this world was different. As Isaac took a breath and moved his foot, hundreds of possible outcomes flashed through his mind.

In his mental constructs, Isaac died hundreds of times and faced defeat as many times. But among thousands of scenarios, he found the one direction towards victory and took another step.

There was no room for even a minor error.

He would cut through any manageable tentacle and dodge any dodgeable attack.

As Isaac’s mind was about to burn out from the strain, the world began to flow normally again.

Suddenly, the Luadin Key was embedded in the Apocalypse handler’s head. A disgusting smell wafted through the sizzling heat.

***

Before the chaos settled, Isaac carved through the Apocalypse handler’s flesh and searched for something akin to essence.

As expected, there was something like a heart inside the monster, capable of controlling its gaseous, liquid, and solid states. Though the heart was already charred, Isaac immediately devoured it through the tentacle.

[‘Apocalypse Predation’ consumed.]

[‘Intestines of the Dead God’ perk increases absorption efficiency.]

[‘Perfect Plague Immunity’ perk acquired.]

[‘Perfect Toxic Immunity’ perk acquired.]

‘Is this what they call impervious to all poisons?’

While Isaac’s physical capabilities or miracles didn’t increase, it was a satisfactory harvest nonetheless. Devouring through the tentacles meant no poison or germ could affect him, but Isaac couldn’t afford to be careless about ingesting toxins himself.

When he had fought the plague god Zihilrat, the plague resistance accumulated within his body came directly from Zihilrat himself, allowing him to withstand it. However, facing another plague, germ, or toxin handler could be unpredictable.

[Nameless Chaos is satisfied with the newly devoured prey.]

[Chaos rewards have been granted.]

[‘The color beyond’ has been strengthened.]

[‘The color beyond’ will now possess physical strength proportional to the faith used.]

Isaac preferred these rewards much more.

–TL Notes–

Hope you enjoyed this chapter. If you want to read up to advance 20 chapters or support me, you can do it at /Akaza156