Beep- beep- beep- beep- beep-
The loud emergency alarm blared.
"...Ugh..."
Within Geronimo's interior, as the red emergency lights blinked on and off, Kuilan struggled to open his eyes.
The world was upside down.
"Huh...?"
Confused, Kuilan blinked several times before he finally grasped the situation.
The spaceship had landed upside down, and Kuilan was hanging inverted, tangled in the safety straps of his overturned seat.
His red ponytail dangled down long below him, swinging back and forth like a pendulum.
Shaking his head to clear it, Kuilan looked around.
"What a mess..."
Like Kuilan, the others were also hanging upside down, strapped in their seats, dangling in the air.
The rest, unable to secure their safety straps in the sudden situation or having been ejected despite being strapped in, lay scattered across the floor - originally the ceiling.
"Is everyone okay...? Oh, my head is spinning."
Though Kuilan managed to ask with a strained voice, no one in the cabin responded.
Clutching his dizzy head, Kuilan looked down to see Ash lying on the floor below.
"Your Highness! Are you alright? Wake up... Your Highness!"
But Ash lay unconscious, bleeding from the forehead, evidently injured.
Clicking his tongue, Kuilan began to unfasten his safety straps.
"That's why I told everyone to wear their safety straps properly... Safety first..."
Though the situation had been dire, having just exploded the insides of the King of Flies, thanks to strictly following safety protocols, he had survived unscathed.
So from now on, to be safe, and because these airships were frightening...
"Why won't this come off, damn it!"
Kuilan grunted as he struggled to untangle the safety straps, but they were too tightly knotted to budge.
Even attempting to cut the straps proved futile due to their excessive durability.
As Kuilan struggled to free himself from the entangled straps,
Thud! Crunch! Bang!
Loud noises came from outside the sealed hatch.
Kuilan, hopeful, looked in that direction.
"Oh, someone's come to help..."
He stopped mid-sentence and shut his mouth.
Crash! Crack! Crunch!
From outside, forcibly prying open the hatch, were the glowing red eyes of mutated flies.
Mutant flies were clinging to the exterior of the ship, forcefully prying the hatch open. Cold sweat ran down Kuilan's back.
"This is insane."
Desperately, Kuilan fought to free himself from the safety straps. As he focused, the tangled straps slowly began to loosen.
'Hurry, hurry, hurry! It's too late...!'
Damien lay near the hatch, unconscious. If the flies managed to get in, Damien and those nearby would be the first to suffer or get injured.
With superhuman focus, Kuilan swiftly untangled the safety straps. But,
Boom-!
The flies were quicker.
They forced the hatch open, and the first mutant fly to enter aimed its sharp forelimbs at Damien, lifting them high.
"No-!"
As the monster's attack descended, Kuilan screamed.
Giving up on the last knot, Kuilan punched his seat hard.
The screws holding the chair burst out, freeing Kuilan from his restraints.
Kuilan fell downward, aiming to strike the flies, but it was already too late.
Whoosh-!
In the next moment, a huge axe flew in from outside, decapitating the head of the fly.
"Huh?"
As Kuilan voiced his surprise, the flies too turned around, only to be decimated by another powerful axe attack, their heads and bodies severed.
"Hoo...yeah!"
Thump!
Following up, the person who collected the axe and then fully opened the hatch was none other than Yun.
Her pale, ivory hair was now matted with soot, and her face bore minor injuries, making her look less than well. Yet, upon spotting Kuilan, Yun grinned.
"Good evening, Kuilan. Are you safe?"
Landing on the floor, Kuilan awkwardly scratched his head.
"Ah, um, thanks to you... Yun, how about you?"
"The airship fleet is virtually annihilated. They've all crashed separately, and the lucky survivors are reorganizing."
Yun pointed towards a distant field.
"I crash-landed over there first and rushed here when I saw this ship going down."
"Really appreciate it. Saved my life."
"No problem. We have to help each other out with the world falling apart."
Yun then pointed towards the dust-clouded Crossroad.
"See the situation at Crossroad? It's chaos there too. Seems the King of Flies has crashed into the city. We need to get there fast."
Narrowing her characteristic yellow eyes, Yun continued.
"One way or another, it must have been damaged. We need to finish it off while it's down."
"Hmm, let's first heal and wake everyone up. Especially His Highness."
It was already nightfall. Distinguishing the cardinal directions was becoming difficult.
As warriors from the Ariane Kingdom guarded the perimeter, Yun entered the ship and began healing the injured with her magic.
When Yun lightly touched Ash's forehead, the bloodied wound quickly healed, eliciting admiration from Kuilan.
"You can use healing magic?"
"Only emergency treatment. I'm not priest-level, but I can heal a man's injuries if I've stabbed him in the back before?"
Unaware of Yun's history with Ash, Kuilan just tilted his head, and Yun chuckled, gesturing towards Kuilan's back.
"You seem injured too. Come here. I'll take a look at your wound."
"Ah, I'm okay. There are others who are more injured..."
"You're relatively safe, so you need to heal quickly and keep fighting. Stop talking and turn around."
Really?
Kuilan, though puzzled, obediently turned his back to Yun.
A superficial wound was bleeding on Kuilan's shoulder, which Yun skillfully healed.
"Now you see? Good with an axe, muscular, can use healing magic. I'm a woman of many talents."
"Truly attractive. I see you in a new light, Yun."
"Oh, stop it, you don't mean that..."
Yun, hesitating for a moment, opened her mouth towards Kuilan.
"...Kuilan. Over there."
That's when it happened.
"Aaaaaah!"
"What is that... Aaaaah!"
Screams suddenly erupted from outside. They were the screams of Ariane Kingdom warriors on guard.
Startled, Kuilan and Yun immediately ran outside and saw it.
Thud! Thwack! Whoosh...!
A giant creature, unlike any they had seen before, was slaughtering the warriors of the Ariane Kingdom.
It was several times larger than the mutated flies they had encountered before.
Floating in the air with four pairs of wings spread out like a dragonfly, its long eight pairs of legs moved like drills, stabbing at the humans on the ground.
The creature's body was a blend of various biological traits. Its chest was particularly covered in scales like armor.
Yun murmured in disbelief.
"It's not even a fly anymore..."
They had thought all the new specimens were destroyed in the explosion of the hatchery caused by the self-destruction of Burnout. Somehow, one that had clung to life had followed them.
Thud!
The creature extended its long leg and ended the life of an Ariane Kingdom warrior who was still breathing.
Then, looking for new prey, it turned its head around - directly at Yun and Kuilan.
"..."
Seeing her fallen comrades, Yun bit her lip hard, grabbed her axe, and then.
Dash!
She suddenly ran to the side.
A confused Kuilan followed after Yun.
"Yun?! Where are you going?!"
"We need to get away from the airship!"
"What?"
"Everyone inside is either injured or unconscious. What good will fighting here do? We need to lure the creature away!"
Kuilan realized Yun's decision made sense.
The problem was the creature's mobility was far superior to what they had expected. It caught up with them at an unbelievable speed for its size.
Screech!
From a height greater than their heads, the creature's pointed leg stretched out and shot down like a bullet.
Yun and Kuilan, crossing paths, swung their axe and fists, dodging the creature's attack.
The power behind each attack was like a battering ram; taking one head-on would surely be fatal.
"It's a good thing we blew up the hatchery. If more creatures like this had come out..."
"If we don't completely finish off the King of Flies, it will eventually produce these creatures in swarms! We need to end it before that...!"
Mid-sentence, Yun stopped.
Until now, the creature had only been stabbing down vertically with its legs. But all those attacks were a feint.
One long leg, circling around under the cover of night... was coming in horizontally.
Towards Kuilan's side.
"...!"
There was no time to warn him. Instinctively, Yun ran towards Kuilan and pushed him away.
Right then, the creature's leg pierced Yun's body.
Thwack-!
"...Ah."
Yun coughed up blood, impaled from the back to the front by the creature's leg tip.
For a moment, her yellow eyes filled with rage.
"This... monster, bastard...!"
With the last of her strength, Yun threw her axe upwards.
The axe spun powerfully, striking the scales on the creature's chest before falling weakly to the ground.
As if unconcerned, the creature nonchalantly pulled its leg out of Yun's body.
Whoosh...!
"Ah...ah."
Yun collapsed on the spot, blood pouring from her wound like a waterfall.
"Yun-!"
Kuilan rushed over, hurriedly opening a potion and pouring it onto Yun's wound. Yun, in shock, trembled and said,
"There must be paralysis poison on its leg tip. I can't move at all."
"Don't talk anymore, let's stop the bleeding first...!"
"It's not the time to treat me, Kuilan. Run..."
Screech!
The creature's leg came down again. Gritting his teeth, Kuilan picked up Yun and rolled to the side with all his might.
After dodging the attack, Kuilan ran as fast as he could, achieving incredible speed. The creature followed him for a moment before slowly stopping in place.
"Good, lost it..."
As Kuilan felt relieved, the creature turned around.
Its direction was towards the crashed Geronimo.
"...!"
Kuilan, biting his lip and not knowing what to do, heard a weak voice from his arms.
"...Kuilan."
"Don't overdo it, Yun. Conserve your breath..."
"That thing... its chest is the weak point."
"What?"
"It's a weak point, so it covered it with scales... When I threw the axe, I saw something like a core through the damaged scales..."
Yun muttered, coughing up blood.
"If you can penetrate the scales and destroy the chest... you might be able to kill it with one blow..."
"..."
Kuilan gently put Yun down and asked with a forced smile,
"What about that creature's weakness? What were you going to say to me earlier?"
"...Haha."
With fading eyes, Yun glanced at Kuilan's face and whispered softly,
"I was just wondering... where your weakness is, always curious about that."
Thump.
Yun's arm fell to the ground as she lost consciousness.
Kuilan opened another potion and poured it into Yun's mouth. When she couldn't swallow properly, he transferred it from his mouth to hers, forcing her to swallow.
Finally, he tore off his shirt and tightly wrapped it around Yun's wound, then Kuilan stood up briskly. The creature was already above Geronimo.
‘Must destroy its chest with one blow.’
But how?
Kuilan's ultimate technique, [Sole Heart Storm], could only be used when he was in a half-human, half-beast state - that is, under the curse of his ancestors.
However, the moon was now waning, heading towards new moon.
The sky was dark. No moonlight.
Kuilan was in his complete human form. He couldn't use Sole Heart Storm like this.
‘If I can't use it...’
Everyone here would die. Yun wouldn't survive either.
Ash was also inside the airship. Without Ash, the world would ultimately perish, consumed by fire. His yet unreclaimed homeland would suffer the same fate.
"Sigh."
Taking a deep breath, Kuilan crouched and then started running forward with all his might.
At the same time, he clenched the silver-red fur cloak draped over his shoulders.
Nightmare Slayer, [Slayer of the Full Moon Glow].
It was time to accept the temptation of the cursed equipment he hadn't heeded for the past two years - the temptation residing within.
"Lend me your strength, great ancestor."
Kuilan growled as he spoke.
"Your 'curse'...!"
The next moment.
Flash!
A full moon descended behind Kuilan.
Dazzling moonlight exploded, and at the same time, the silver-red cloak fluttering behind Kuilan clung to his back as if it had always been his own skin.
Suddenly, Kuilan was no longer in human form, nor was he half-human, half-beast.
A beast running on all fours.
Lycanthrope, werewolf-
The trial bestowed by Nightmare Slayer, [Slayer of the Full Moon Glow], upon its master.
[Complete Beast Transformation].
Temporarily inheriting all the power of his ancestors, and at the same time,
-inheriting that curse as well.
Awooooo!
Kuilan, howling like a wolf, leaped into the air.
And then, with a fist and feet swirling with red energy, he cleanly pierced through the chest of the creature that was about to strike the airship with its eight pairs of legs.
Tearrrrr!
--TL Notes--
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