At the same time.
White Night, who had departed from the scout tower with the infiltration team, was still awkwardly flying, wobbling as she approached the King of Flies.
"Ash, you damn bastard..."
She still hadn't fully adapted to the body of a fly.
Looking at the world through the bizarre vision of compound eyes, White Night barely suppressed the nausea welling up inside her.
"I'll make you regret putting me in this body."
Although she had spoken weakly in front of Ash, White Night was overflowing with determination.
"Can't I take over the consciousness of a slightly larger fly?"
White Night glanced disdainfully at the giant fly unfolding before her.
Buoooooo...!
The King of Flies was still advancing.
Heroes who had infiltrated its belly were causing chaos, but it seemed unbothered and continued flying north.
As she got closer to the King of Flies, White Night muttered to herself.
"I'll make you regret freeing me, Ash."
White Night had never forgotten her goal.
Ascension.
Even though a brief mistake had led her on a detour, she was still alive and the opportunity remained in her hands.
At the same time, White Night hadn't forgotten the humiliation and disgrace Ash had caused her.
She would definitely pay him back, definitely...
For that moment of reversal, what was taking over a fly's body to her?
Around the King of Flies, countless flies were spread out like a net, but none of them stopped White Night.
The monstrous flies were too preoccupied with the intruders in their stomach.
"Stupid and filthy creatures."
Falling for such a simple disruption strategy, not stopping the real bomb from approaching.
Chuckling to herself, White Night flew up next to the King of Flies's massive head and attached her legs.
She was planning to connect to the King of Flies's consciousness after making some preparations.
However, the moment White Night made contact with the King of Flies's massive body.
"...?!"
Her consciousness was instantly devoured.
She was sucked into the King of Flies's massive collective consciousness without even having a chance to scream internally.
***
"Cough?!"
When White Night regained consciousness, she was standing in a white space.
"Gasp, gasp, what, what is this...?"
White Night trembled and first checked her body.
A fresh green right hand was visible. It was the body of a Jiangshi she used to use.
But her left hand was skeletal. It was the body of an Undead Lich she had used a very long time ago.
At the same time, her lower body was a strange shape scattering magical data. Her right and left halves, upper and lower halves were all different.
White Night dully stared at her trembling hands and then clenched them tightly.
What she was could be decided later.
First, she needed to seize this monstrous collective consciousness and make it her own.
"As a master of Jiangshi sorcery... taking over a fly's body is nothing."
White Night looked around.
But where was this place? Where was the opponent she needed to defeat?
Eating, eating...
That was when.
The sound of something being chewed and swallowed could be heard slowly and clearly. It was behind her.
"..."
Feeling a bad premonition, White Night slowly turned around. And her body froze.
There was a mountain of corpses.
Literally a mountain. It was so immeasurably high that its end couldn't be seen from this place, a towering and high mountain of corpses.
Most of the corpses were flies. Dead flies were endlessly stacked there.
And, in front of that mountain.
Eating, eating, eating.
A fly was voraciously consuming something.
Eating, eating, eating...
It was an old, unimpressive fly with a hunched back.
Oddly, the fly was sitting cross-legged on its back two legs, using its front two legs to hold and eat its prey, while its middle two legs were folded as if in prayer.
The fly continuously devoured whatever was in its hands.
The fly was currently eating an imp.
After swallowing the imp's head, the fly tossed away the rest of the body. The imp was added to the gigantic mountain of corpses.
Then, the fly grabbed a new prey placed next to it with its front two legs and mechanically began to eat again.
This time, it was a large goat, and again, only the head part.
Only then did White Night realize that the mountain of corpses was made up entirely of headless bodies.
"What the..."
Even the grand sorcerer had never seen such a scene before.
White Night murmured with a trembling voice.
"You... what are you eating now?"
Then, the old fly stopped eating.
The old fly put down the goat it was holding and glanced back.
There were bizarre horns on its head, and above them, a dark halo shone.
"Can't you see?"
Kikikiki... Laughter flowed from the fly's mouth.
The old fly's voice sounded as if billions of flies were flapping their wings at once, tearing through the eardrums.
Without realizing it, White Night covered her ears and staggered backward.
"Offered to me as a sacrifice."
The demon in the shape of a fly raised its front leg, pointing directly at White Night.
"This entire world."
***
Click! Tskaaak-!
The mutant fly swung its mantis-like front legs.
The giant scythe-like ends swept through the surroundings, and the survivors, still unable to move due to not fully recovering from paralysis, were helplessly cut down.
"This motherfucker!"
As his men were slaughtered, Kellison screamed in rage.
Kellibey held back Kellison from rushing forward from behind.
"If you rush in now, it's certain death, please! Kellison!"
"Ugh...!"
Behind the two dwarves, Junior was casting magic.
The mutant entity was using a magical barrier similar to a warship.
The barrier was strong enough to deflect most magic attacks. Naturally, physical attacks were ineffective as well.
Therefore, Junior was straining to cast her ultimate skill [Elemental Disassembly], aiming to strip away that barrier.
Considering [Elemental Disassembly] as the top priority to remove the barrier, she had miraculously shortened the casting time with the [Lord of Crimson]'s ultra-fast chanting feature. However, a minimum amount of time to gather magic power was still needed.
About 3 minutes.
During those mere 3 minutes, the survivors were being massacred.
The survivors who were not paralyzed tried to fight in any way they could, but they too were not in perfect condition.
After being kidnapped here following a fierce battle, they had exhausted a tremendous amount of mental and physical energy during the escape process.
Frankly, none were in a condition to fight.
Blood spattered in all directions, and the dwarves died in vain.
Finally, Kellison could no longer hold back.
"Aaaaaaah!"
"Kellison-!"
With a powerful push, Kellison leaped into the air and rushed towards the mutant fly.
Kellison was a born warrior.
He was a Dwarf King, inheriting the strongest lineage of miners, and among his contemporaries, he was a fighter with unmatched endurance and strength.
He was also a brilliant blacksmith. He immediately noticed the weakness in the magical barrier of the mutant entity.
"It's like that of a warship!"
The barrier activates only when in a defensive stance.
In other words, when the fly attacks, the magical barrier does not activate!
Kellison had leaped at the moment the mutant fly swung its attack at another survivor.
With the barrier gone for a moment, Kellison climbed onto the back of the mutant fly and struck its head with a hammer he held in his hand.
Puck-!
A satisfying strike exploded.
The mutant fly's head bent forward. However, Kellison grimaced.
"Not enough!"
The timing and the point of impact were perfect, but the problem was the weapon.
The hammer Kellison was holding was not the giant hammer he normally used as a weapon but a smaller hammer used for both tools and weapons.
The destructive power was significantly lacking to kill the monster. As expected, the head of the fly that had bent forward slowly and grotesquely turned back.
Facing the monstrous red eyes staring straight at him, Kellison grimaced bitterly.
"Damn, I really need to control my temper..."
Click-!
The giant front leg of the mutant fly tore through the air towards Kellison.
At that moment, a strong grip pulled Kellison down.
The scythe-like front leg cut a few strands of Kellison's blond hair and sliced through the air, and Kellison rolled down.
Kellibey was the one who had pulled Kellison down. He then threw Kellison towards Junior.
"This dumbass. Never listens to his father's words, even in death."
Behind the panting Kellibey, the next attack of the mutant fly was already falling.
Kellison screamed in a rush, but Kellibey knew he couldn't dodge this attack.
'Well, it's not too bad, though.'
If dying in his son's stead, who had to take the throne at a young age because he ran away, could be considered...
Thinking this, Kellibey tightly closed his eyes and braced for the impending pain.
Boom! Kwagwagwang!
A terrifying roar erupted from behind.
...But it wasn't painful.
"Huh?"
Realizing something was off, Kellibey cautiously opened his eyes and looked back, seeing giant tentacles that had burst through the floor below.
These tentacles were restraining the mutant fly's legs, preventing it from thrashing about.
Boom! Kwaddeukdeuk!
Soon, the tentacles widened the hole and rose up.
The tentacles belonged to the summon, Kraken, and atop it, Ash stood with a cold face, glaring at the mutant fly.
"I'm sorry."
Ash clenched his teeth and spat out after checking the corpses of the fallen crew members.
"It's a bit late."
"Ash...!"
As Kellibey was about to say something,
Click! Tskaaak!
The mutant fly swung its arms fiercely, and the Kraken's strong tentacle legs were severed, releasing the mutant fly.
Goooooo!
The enraged Kraken screamed ferociously, and dozens of tentacles stretched out towards the swiftly ascending mutant fly.
The mutant fly tried to raise its magical barrier to counter,
Ting-!
But at that moment, Junior completed the casting of [Elemental Disassembly].
The magical barrier disappeared. Immediately after, the Kraken's tentacles tightly clung to the mutant fly, perfectly capturing it.
And the elite heroes did not miss the immobilized prey.
Pupupuk!
Verdandi, who followed with a thrown blink dagger, planted dozens of sword strikes into the mutant fly's body in an instant,
Puck-!
And atop that opened wound, Kuilan instantly followed with a series of kicks.
The shell shattered, exposing a clear gap. And Burnout was already aiming.
Dudududuk-
Perverbung!
The hit crossbow bolts exploded in unison, and the mutant fly was blown to pieces, dying instantly.
Ash and his party of 15, standing atop the layer along with the captured monster corps, quickly surveyed the surroundings and secured the situation.
"..."
Ash, who arrived a step late, bit his lip as he watched the dead, his head turned to the side.
Kellibey, Kellison, and Junior approached Ash, staggering.
"It's good to see the three of you alive."
There was much to say, but the words did not come out.
None knew what to say in front of the horrific corpses of the crew members who had died, their blood spilled.
"Collect the bodies of the casualties and retreat immediately. We have escape teleport scrolls. You should be able to return to Crossroad."
Ash signaled to the two dwarf warriors he had brought. The two dwarf warriors immediately nodded and began to gather the bodies of the casualties.
Kellibey asked tentatively.
"What about you, Ash?"
"The goal was not only to rescue the survivors but also to disrupt and destroy the hatchery. I'll stall for a bit more..."
Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom!
Suddenly, a vicious sound started coming from the floor above. Ash stopped speaking and looked upwards.
Wriggle wriggle wriggle...
And from the hole in the ceiling,
Dozens of mutant fly entities, which they had just managed to defeat with difficulty, began pouring out one after another.
--TL Notes--
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