In life, some events appear suddenly, without any warning or precursor. No matter how many plans are made or how thoroughly one prepares, there are unavoidable, irresistible misfortunes.
Looking back, it’s something that constantly irritates and eats away at your mood. But what would happen if the scale and level of such an inevitable event grew too enormous? For example, like a disaster comparable to a natural catastrophe.
Would people feel irritation and discomfort upon learning that such an event had occurred?
The answer was no.
The response from people was simple: despair and hopelessness.
"Wh-what the hell is that?"
The surviving necromancers, including Katalag, could not accept the death of the crocodile monster. At the very least, the combat strength of the crocodile monster, as they had thought, was incomparable to that of something like a Flash Golem. It could have been at the level of the best-known corpse giant or a decaying undead, or even beyond that.
Even if there was some exaggeration mixed in, the strength of the crocodile monster was real.
But that crocodile monster had been torn apart and killed without even putting up much of a fight.
Drip, drip. Blood flowed out, spilling like water overflowing from a cup beyond the darkness. It was a terrifying sight, as if the gates of hell had opened and the demons were beckoning.
The emerald-colored glowing eyes, which had easily torn apart the trump card the dark wizards had prepared, now turned toward the dark wizards.
"Wh-what?"
The dark wizards, frozen in fear and confusion, finally started to move. It was a form of survival instinct. The moment that monster faced them, they felt an unfathomable malice in its gaze.
AAAAAHHH!!!
A roar, almost like a scream, erupted from the darkness. It sounded like a human’s scream, or like an animal’s howling.
Even though it was just a simple sound, the air vibrated, and shockwaves spread out. Osian, who had adjusted his fluttering cloak, stared into the darkness.
‘This sound...’
It was a sound he vaguely remembered.
‘Was it when I brought Orlea underground last time?’
When they were guided by the underground keeper, they heard a similar sound. The underground keeper had explained that dangerous monsters lurked in the depths of Tirna. This meant that the owner of the scream was the monster standing right in front of them.
‘Did it come here because of the noise? Or did something go wrong due to the rain?’
Either way, the fact that a dangerous monster had appeared was undeniable. At that moment, something suddenly emerged from the darkness.
It was a massive hand.
It looked like a mix between human and beast, with sparse black fur growing in places and dark, viscous liquid dripping from some parts of its skin.
The sharp claws were full of the flesh and blood of the recently dead crocodile monster. This hand had surely twisted and pulled off the crocodile's head.
The hand stretched out elastically and grabbed one of the dark wizards' bodies.
"AAHHH! L-let go!"
The dark wizard struggled, but it was no use. The monster slowly lifted the dark wizard’s body. Once it reached a certain height, it squeezed tightly.
CRACK!
The fingers of the hand clenched tightly, and red blood spurted out like fruit juice from the gaps between its fingers. The sight of a person turning completely into blood in an instant seemed unreal.
The monster, which had killed one dark wizard, scratched the floor with its sharp claws and revealed itself.
Grrrrraaaa...
It was a black monster that seemed like a blend of man and beast. Its elongated, beast-like face was grotesquely contorted, and its body, in addition to black fur, had tentacles and eyeballs attached to it.
On its head, twisted horns like those of a deer grew irregularly. Some of the horns hadn't grown properly and were bent, or had even burrowed back into the skull.
The lower body was somewhat pitiful compared to its upper body. Even the upper body, though, had an unusually large right arm as its first prominent feature.
But that didn’t make it seem laughable.
Even without counting the right arm, the creature was extremely threatening and terrifying. Even the dark wizards, who were used to dealing with corpses, turned pale the moment they saw the creature's appearance.
"Ugh! AAAAAH!"
A dark wizard, terrified by the fact that a colleague had died, panicked and used dark magic. With a cracking sound, bones rose from the floor and formed sharp spears, which were launched toward the monster.
A total of five skeletal spears were fired all at once. Judging by their sharp accuracy, it seemed they had been prepared to target Osian, but now they were used against the creature instead. The intended target had changed, but the power remained the same.
THUD! THUD! THUD! THUD! TING!
One of the spears struck the monster’s head and bounced off, while the remaining four pierced its body and arms.
As the spearheads dug deep into its flesh, the monster screamed.
AAAAHHH!!!
A scream that sounded like a human's cry of agony. Seeing that his attack was working, the dark wizard smiled with delight.
And that was the last moment for him.
CRACK!
The monster’s right arm swung, crushing the dark wizard. The mangled remains, barely holding any shape, crashed into the wall and fell to the ground.
The monster, having disposed of another dark wizard, shook its body. As it did, the skeletal spears embedded in its body were naturally pulled out and fell to the floor.
“The wounds...they regenerate?”
Katalag stared, wide-eyed, as the monster’s wounds quickly healed. Black blood seemed to flow, but the injuries healed almost instantly. Upon closer inspection, something resembling black tentacles wriggled inside the healed wounds.
The monster’s eyes, now fully healed, turned toward Katalag.
“Sh-shit.”
Katalag realized. There were no dark wizards left, except for him. And this monster was now considering him as its enemy.
Katalag gritted his teeth. He pulled out all the capsules he had prepared.
These weren’t magic-imbued capsules but quite the opposite.
Using necromancy he had shrunk down bodies into small sizes.
When they returned to their original sizes, the corpses immediately sprang to life and charged at the monster.
They weren’t just zombies. There were ghouls mixed in as well, and one particularly noticeable one stood out.
Unlike the other zombies, it was an undead dressed in a neat, well-tailored uniform.
Its only notable feature was that it had no head.
A Dullahan.
This undead, known as the headless knight, was a higher-ranked undead than a ghoul.
If you had to rank them, it would be half a step above a Flash Golem. While its pure physical combat ability was weaker than a Flesh Golem, it was superior in every other aspect.
The Dullahan, with its musket on its back, aimed at the monster.
A bluish light surrounded the muzzle, and a flash of light shot out.
AAAAAHHH!
The flash pierced the monster's shoulder, and it screamed. Osian’s eyes gleamed as he watched.
“A special zombie made from a mana user’s corpse? It’s different from the Dullahan I remember.”
Unlike before, when it wielded a massive halberd while riding a horse, it had evolved to suit the times.
Now, it was called by a different name: "Sleepy Hollow."
“If there are more like that, it would be troublesome to fight.”
An undead capable of ranged sniping.
Even considering the variation in power depending on the quality of the corpse used, it was still quite powerful.
“But it’s no match for that monster.”
Osian coldly analyzed the situation. No matter how strong a Dullahan might be, it wasn’t a match for this monster.
The zombies and ghouls that rushed at the monster were obliterated in an instant, bursting like balloons from the monster’s movements.
The monster barely moved a few times, and the zombies and ghouls were wiped out. The last remaining Sleepy Hollow didn’t avoid the monster’s touch and was crushed as well.
“This is insane. How could this...?”
Katalag, with a blank expression, stared at the monster’s hand reaching out toward him.
CRACK!
GROOOAAARRHH!
The monster, having taken care of Katalag as well, let out a victorious roar.
But this wasn’t a roar of triumph.
‘It looks like it’s in pain.’
Osian could sense some emotion in the monster’s scream.
The monster was in agony, though the reason was unclear. It was just a gut feeling he had.
When the monster’s roar subsided, its gaze turned toward Osian.
As Osian met the emerald light in its fierce eyes, he felt every hair on his body stand on end.
“This...this thing is definitely no ordinary monster.”
He could clearly feel the overwhelming presence it exuded.
It was a sensation similar to when facing a boss monster.
Although one might argue that he couldn’t know how it felt to face a boss monster on the other side of a screen, Osian knew.
At the very least, this physical form had experienced the battles that came before.
That body was telling him something.
The enemy in front of him was incredibly strong and dangerous.
‘Was there such a thing?’
It seemed that the monster had lived deep underground for a long time.
This meant it might have some connection to the distant past from when Osian was active.
But no matter how hard he thought, he had no memory of encountering such a creature.
There were some monsters similar to it, but none of them were bosses, and the details were completely different.
“Whether it was born naturally over the passing years, I don’t know.”
Osian gripped his sword tighter.
“But now that we’ve met, there’s no way we’re going to walk away unscathed.”
The monster roared in response to Osian’s words. While its priority was the dark wizards, the monster had no intention of letting Osian off easily.
Osian took a deep breath and sensed the foul smell of decaying corpses, and the heavy stench of death emanating from the dark mage's body.
As his tongue flicked inside his helmet, the taste of blood hanging in the air became apparent.
"Come."
The sensation of the air sticking to his skin, as if announcing an impending struggle, wasn't so bad.
As soon as Osian's words finished, the monster lunged forward.
Despite its large arms throwing off its center of gravity, its movements were very nimble.
If Osian relaxed for even a moment, he wouldn't be able to react in time.
"Impressive."
But Osian had already noticed the monster's movements.
"Quick and sharp, but now that I've seen it once, I know how to respond."
Instead of retreating, Osian dove into the monster’s range.
Charging forward against a monster that even the dark mages were terrified of was an insane act only someone with nerves of steel could attempt.
But Osian willingly chose that path.
In fact, it was the monster that was caught off guard. Its instincts told it that Osian would retreat, so it tried to prepare by extending its arm.
Seizing the fleeting gap, Osian burrowed into the monster’s arms, slashing his sword as he passed under its thick arm.
Swish!
The monster’s tough skin and black fur were sliced off, and blood splattered.
It was thick, mud-like black blood.
The monster tried to turn and attack Osian as he moved behind it, but when it looked, Osian was nowhere to be seen.
As it tried to locate him, a sharp pain surged through its ankle.
"Aaaaahhh!"
The monster lifted its opposite leg, aiming for Osian’s presumed position, but it felt no impact.
Suddenly, a burning pain surged through its waist, and blood splattered.
Osian maneuvered inside the monster's range, relentlessly targeting its blind spots.
Large monsters are generally vulnerable under their feet, and Osian took advantage of that weakness as he methodically attacked the monster’s body.
‘This thing is tough as hell.’
Normally, Osian would have sliced its legs off and split its body in one go, but the monster's durability was impressive.
‘I can cut through the skin, but the muscle inside is the problem.’
The black, wriggling tentacles seen inside the monster’s wounds as it regenerated.
They moved like a school of sardines swimming through its body, blocking Osian's sword from reaching its bones.
‘It's like living muscle fibers.’
As Osian continued to target the monster’s blind spots and press the fight, their eyes met.
It wasn't that the monster turned its head to look at Osian.
Eyes suddenly sprouted from its back and locked onto Osian.
"Dammit."
Before Osian could finish speaking, the monster's arm swung.
Osian lowered his body, angling his shield to brace for impact.
Bang!
The ground around them trembled as Osian was violently pushed back.
For a split second, the force felt like a disaster, akin to a storm.
Osian felt his left arm, holding the shield, ringing with the impact.
‘I'm wearing Starlight Armor and even using the shield to absorb some of the force. And yet, my muscles are still trembling.’
Considering how exceptional his physical abilities were, this monster's strength was on a level that defied common sense.
Osian, amazed by the underground creature of Tirna, smiled grimly inside his helmet.
"Nice."
Very nice.
"This is the first time. Since coming here, no one has made me feel this much of a challenge."
The Blood Brotherhood? The Bloodfire Prince with ancient power? The experiment of the Moonlight power replication?
None of those had given him any real thrill.
"You're different."
Yes.
This was like returning to the time when he enjoyed the game the most.
As a challenger, the thrill of fighting an unknown enemy was something he could not resist.
Grrr...
The monster watched Osian with wary eyes, as if it couldn’t comprehend the existence of a human like him.
"From now on, I’m going to get serious too."
Starlight erupted from Osian’s sword.