Chapter 431: The Lion King (4)

Chapter 431: The Lion King (4)

...Rumbling!

Poking its head through the crumbling floor was the head of a giant horse, and its body was made up of dark tree bark.

The presence of horses was not surprising for a knight, but this one's appearance was very familiar.

A bust that those who graduated from the Colosseo Academy cannot help but remember.

<'The 5th Corpse' Amdusias>

Danger Rating : S+

Size: ?

Found in: The Serpent's Womb, deep within the Gates of Destruction.

-Also known as '5th Corpse'.

One of the Ten Plagues, the natural enemy of mankind, incomprehensible and unkillable.

"Take away the life of the first born that year."

– 『The Ten Commandments』 10:Top –

'Amdusias', the unicorn of the abyss. 5th of the Ten Corpses.

This demon, in the form of a giant horse, roared with its mouth open at the Night Walkers.

"H-how!?"

"Didn't Vikir exterminate that thing!"

Hearing Tudor and Bianca exclaim in horror, Passamonte chuckled and replied.

"It's not real. It's a remnant of Amdusias wandering the Imperial Capital. Of course, it cannot exert the same power as the main body, but it can replicate some of its powers."

The spirit of Amdusias shattered and scattered into countless fragments.

Passamonte seemed to have picked up one of the larger pieces.

"Amdusias was a great horse that I always wanted to tame. Is there anything more honorable than taming a beast-type demon that is treated as an equal? and I owe it all to you."

Passamonte climbed onto Amdusias's back.

"Die, demon!"

Tudor raised his Gungnir and swung it.

"Now that I have a good horse, I must have a good body and a good weapon, right? Alas, Tudor, recklessness is the privilege of the young; You don't know how long I've waited for my courage to mature before your body."

The words only tore at Passamonte's torn mouth even more.

At the same time.

Chararararak-!

The rough tree bark that covered Amdusias' body began to snap like tentacles in unison.

Everyone could tell that these were no ordinary trees.

"...Tentacles!?"

Dolores exclaimed in horror.

It seemed that Passamonte had even gained Amdusias's ability to manipulate plant power.

Though all that was here was a few roots of the Hell Tree, it was enough to create the imaginary world once again.

"The Hell Tree is perfect for destroying the minds of its prey. It is perfect for taking away the body without a scratch. Ah, you've experienced it, so you know it well."

Passamonte's voice flows smoothly.

The roots of the Hell Tree caught the current and stretched out with incredible speed, enveloping the Night Walkers.

Kiriririririririk-

Everything was as they remembered it.

The roots of the Hell Tree wrapped around Dolores and everyone else, dragging their minds down to the bottom of a deep, dark abyss.

"I can see why Amdusias was so fascinated by the souls that matured in the Hell Tree."

Passamonte muttered in a low voice.

"I'll let them ripen slowly, and take them out when they're at their most tattered. Souls are like fruit, they're sweetest and softest just before they rot."

Only the sound of laughter, tinged with a slimy appetite, hovered in the abyss.

* * *

"...Keugh."

Tudor held his pounding head and lifted his head.

"Hey. Stop!"

Then.

... Kung!

As soon as Tudor blocked his path, Amdusias fell to the ground and bit out his tongue.

" ...Uh? What, I didn't do anything!"

Tudor hurriedly waved his hand as Bianca narrowed her eyes next to him.

Dolores, meanwhile, looked at Amdusias' body on the ground.

It appeared to be a tiny fraction of the many fragments of consciousness left behind by the real Amdusias.

It spoke in a weary, almost fading voice.

[...Run away. A monster is coming.].

At the words, everyone shook their heads in disbelief.

Amdusias continued, tears in his eyes.

[This is the realm of the monster who destroyed the Hell Tree and imprisoned me in his mind. I don't know how you got here, but you'd better run away quickly, for the monster's inner world is so desolate and devastated that even demons have mental breakdowns after being trapped inside for so long... hi-hi... hihehehehe-]

Those were the last words of Amdusias' thought fragment.

Tsutsutsutsuts...

Amdusias's soul fragment turns to black powder and crumbles.

It seemed that Pasamonte had gotten hold of the Amdusias inside Vikir and was manipulating him.

"I don't really understand what's going on, but... what you're saying is that when we were trapped in the Hell Tree, we were trapped in a fragment of the Hell Tree that was a copy of Vikir's mind, and now this is the landscape of Vikir's inner world, right?"

Everyone nodded at Tudor's summary.

Not sure if it makes sense, but it's the way things are, so they'll have to accept it.

"I think it's the result of the combined powers of 5th and 4th Corpse, and we need to get out of this world first."

No one disagreed with Dolores' words.

Passamonte's intention is to trap everyone here and gradually break their minds.

It was clear that humans would not last long in this harsh environment, where even demons would lose their sense of self and crumble.

"Damn it, this is the imaginary world, and I can't even decide for myself. If I don't get my shit together, Passamonte, will he take my body?"

Tudor broke out in a cold sweat and looked around.

But the landscape of this world, so full of enemies and nothing but blackness, was enough to drive him mad.

'What kind of life has Vikir lived?'

This is the only thought that commonly appears in everyone's mind.

Right then.

[...demon].

Behind their backs. A voice that made everyone's bodies stiffen.

But the body didn't react in a negative way.

It was the voice they had longed for, the voice they had wanted to hear.

[...demon].

It was the voice of an old comrade, a close friend, who had gone to a place where they would never meet again.

"Vikir!?"

Piggy was the first to turn his head.

Dolores, Sinclair, Tudor, Sancho, and Bianca also hurriedly turned their heads to look at the place where the voice was coming from.

And there stood a figure that matched everyone's thoughts.

Vikir.

Vikir Van Baskerville.

First year at Colosseo Academy.

A model student who had never missed a class.

And the Night Hound, the worst villain the entire Empire had ever seen.

[...Demons kill]

He remained the same, unchanged from four years ago.

In this desolate, lonely place. All this time. Alone.