Chapter 414: Blood (4)

Being my foothold ain’t easy. You think you can keep up just by pouring all your mana into speed? We’ll see. You’ll have to chase me to the brink.”

Miliana spoke to Viola without so much as glancing over her shoulder.

“Unlike other people, I don’t hand out second chances.”

Despite her harsh tone, Viola could still sense the acknowledgment behind her words.

“I’m ready. Tactical formation, go!”

“Haaah...!”

Viola raised Silver Wrath high, and the knights of the Ranion Alliance immediately fanned out, charging forward in formation.

Up ahead, Blood’s body—once exuding poisonous energy—pulled itself back together, returning to its original, uninjured form.

With a guttural roar, the creature launched itself at Miliana.

That’s the second time now,

Karyl remarked as he closely watched its movements.

At that moment, Blood opened its mouth wide and drew in a deep breath—almost as if in response to Karyl. Air rushed into its body like a vacuum, its frame swelling grotesquely as energy filled it from within.

That’s Mist Inhalation.

It was a technique common among the Tarak, but this one had a different nature. Mist was already difficult to deal with, but Blood’s attack, which involved splattering highly corrosive blood, was even more dangerous.

Hssssss...

Even Miliana’s scales couldn’t completely withstand it. Whenever that blood splashed on her— whether from the spray attack or from her own blade—her scales peeled away, sizzling as they melted.

“Ghhk...!”

But as expected of the Queen of Barbarians, she gritted her teeth through the pain and drove her sword forward, refusing to retreat.

Boom...!

The swollen creature exploded once again with a deafening blast. Miliana staggered against the wave of searing heat. Her protective scales had been stripped in several places, revealing the bronze sheen of her bare skin underneath.

Karyl recognized the pattern. This was the second phase. To bring the creature down, they would need to pierce its heart in the third and final phase.

[It’s just like the ones the Platinum Dragon showed us back at the Gray Training Ground. You remember that, don’t you? The monster I let loose when you first arrived?]

Of course I remember. Not just that. Back in my previous life, I hunted that Blood too, so I know exactly how it fights.

[Still, this one is nothing like the Tarak I created. If Nain saw this, he’d probably pass out. His so-called immortal army, and those undead slaves... They’re nothing compared to this.]

No creation of man could ever match what a god made

.

Karyl wasn’t expressing admiration for Yula’s creation; it was simply a reminder that the enemy in front of them was not one they could afford to take lightly. Although he knew how they were supposed to fight, Karyl didn’t let his guard down one bit.

“Miliana! Don’t back off! Go for the heart now, while it’s still recovering!” he shouted to her across the field.

“...Shit!” Miliana cursed under her breath. As the storm of blood surged toward her like a tidal wave, she raised her beloved blades, Arc and Gale, and slashed into it without hesitation.

Digon Twin Blade Technique - First Form: Crimson Moon Wind.

With her blades raised at an angle, Miliana spun, putting all her strength into cleaving through the waves of blood rushing down on her. But no matter how sharp her swordsmanship, the torrent was simply too much.

Overwhelmed, she was forced to retreat.

“Ghah...!”

The moment the blood splashed on her face, an unbearable stench hit her, and a sickening heat surged through her body. She felt like her insides were on fire, blood spilling from her lips.

“No way...!”

Her pride refused to let her fall back, but her body was already moving on its own. Her instincts had taken over. Her body knew what her mind wouldn’t admit—if she didn’t fall back, she would die.

Tactical Formation: Gale

At that moment, the knights surrounding Greys locked their shields overhead and along their flanks. Then, they charged in a massive cone formation toward Blood’s exposed side.

Crash...!

The massive spear of shields pierced through the searing tide of blood and rammed into the creature’s side.

Hssss...! Hsssss...!

The knights’ shields were soaked in scalding blood, but not one of them slowed their charge. Greys’s sword burst from the tip of the formation, where the shields converged, glowing with mana as it drove toward Blood’s heart.

“Heh... Seems like those shields don’t melt from Tarak blood. I didn’t know that old gnome’s enchantments were that powerful.” Allen Javius clicked his tongue in disbelief as he watched the knights hold the line.

“That’s the work of the Ironclad tribe. And that crest drawn on the shields... looks like the Thunderclap had a hand in it too.”

“Hmm?”

“They’re just as skilled with metal and fire as the dwarves. The design might look crude, but they built those shields for one purpose: pure defense. And it shows.”

Karyl had quickly realized that the shape and structure of those shields were very peculiar.

“When did they even make those...? Anthem really pulled through. Negotiating with the northern tribes couldn’t have been easy.”

He was once again glad to have met Anthem Howard. Unlike the empire’s nobles, who had supported the Extermination Decree of Heresy, Anthem was from the former Lurein Principality, and that alone gave him more leeway to negotiate with the tribes and gain their trust.

But even putting aside his origins, acknowledging the strength of the northern tribes and actively incorporating them into his strategy couldn’t have been an easy decision.

He’s fighting his own kind of battle too.

A faint smile tugged at Karyl’s lips as he kept observing the fight.

“Now!”

Miliana was a wreck—she looked as if she had been swallowed by fire, and she could barely stand. But at Greys’ shout, she sprang into action, driving her twin blades forward.

It was sheer willpower keeping her on her feet.

“Haaaaah...!”

The shield formation in front of her parted like curtains, and Miliana burst forward, Arc and Gale flashing in her hands.

Clang!

Wind swirled fiercely around her blades, empowering the thrust as they were about to sink into Blood’s chest, right where his heart was supposed to be.

Crack...!

But her expression tightened right before the blades made contact.

“Too shallow...?!”

Just before Arc and Gale could pierce its heart, Blood crossed its arms to block the strike, stopping her blades in the nick of time.

Crunch... Crack...

Miliana tried to pull the swords out, but Blood clamped down on the blades, seemingly indifferent to the pain.

“Grgh...! Ghhhkkk...!!”

With a twisted cry, the monster’s chest split open, revealing a second enormous mouth. Some kind of red fluid was churning inside, bubbling and swelling, seemingly about to be fired straight at Miliana.

“Hrrgh...!”

Just then, the surrounding knights pushed in, slamming their shields around Blood and crushing it in place. At the same time, Greys stepped in beside Miliana and thrust his sword through the gap at her side.

Fanpinel Family Swordsmanship: Papilio Bianor

His sword twisted vertically before sweeping forward parallel to the ground, slicing with a flurry of irregular strikes like the frantic flapping of a bird’s wings.

Boom...!!

With a deafening explosion, the blade pierced clean through the already wounded heart of the Tarak.

“Kyaaaaahhh...!!” Blood shrieked, and in that instant, both Greys and Miliana were flung backward from the impact.

Drip... drip...

A stream of blood, thicker than before, poured forth from Blood’s heart.

“Haaah... Haaah...”

Greys instinctively rose to his feet, his eyes still locked on the monster. He had landed only a single strike, but even that filled him with a strange euphoria. His lips quivered as he realized what kind of creature he had dared to face, what kind of creature he had struck successfully.

“Not bad for a foothold.” Miliana gave him a light slap on the shoulder.

“Eh, it was thanks to the knights that I managed to land that hit.”

“You speak like a true knight, I’ll give you that. Sure, I was the one who created the opening, but I can’t deny the effort you and your queen put in.” She smirked at how quickly Greys passed the credit to Viola.

“Well, that’s that. We won.” Miliana shook off her hands with a sense of finality.

Rumble... Rumble...

And as if to mock her, Blood stirred on the ground, the blade still lodged in its heart. Then, the creature slowly rose to its feet.

“You’ve got to be kidding...” Greys murmured, stunned by the creature’s monstrous persistence. His thrill was short-lived.

“Are Tarak truly immortal?”

“...So you’re telling me we’re going to have to keep fighting things like that?”

Those were mere whispers, but Viola could sense her knights wavering.

“Steady yourselves. Failing to kill it only means our strength wasn’t enough. It doesn’t mean it can’t be killed.”

Fear spread quickly. Viola might have been swept up in that tide once, but not anymore.

“This was only the first fight. Whether it takes two tries or twenty, finding the way to win is our job. As the first ones to face the Tarak, it’s up to our allied order to carry that burden with pride.”

“Yes, ma’am!”

“Understood.”

“...Forgive us.”

She didn’t scold them, but her firm words were enough to steady them. They were going up against a god, essentially bringing a knife to a gunfight. Hoping for an easy win right out of the gate was, at best, foolish.

The knights knew that, yet they couldn’t completely shake off their fear. Still, in a moment of crisis, Viola proved herself a worthy queen, and that alone helped them hold on to their courage.

“She’s right.” Karyl stepped forward from among them, and all eyes turned toward him. “Well done.”

He glanced at the mangled Blood, who was slowly regenerating, then gave Miliana a light pat on the shoulder.

“To destroy a Tarak, you have to crush the heart. And to do that, you first need a way to withstand its venom.”

Then he looked at Viola. “I didn’t tell you how to counter the venom. I never planned to from the beginning. Honestly, I thought you’d be unprepared for the First Tarak. Looks like I underestimated you.”

He bent down and picked up one of the half-melted shields from the ground. “You didn’t wait for me to point the way. You fought by yourselves.”

It wasn’t just empty praise meant to lift their spirits. Unlike him, they were facing the Tarak for the first time. They had no prior knowledge.

But as Viola had said, they had done everything humanly possible to prepare for victory. And now, unlike the devastating sacrifices that had marked the first Tarak hunt in Karyl’s past life, they were leading this battle in a completely different direction.

“Just piercing its heart would’ve been hard enough. But you did it. You found it and struck true. By all means, that should be impossible.”

Miliana frowned slightly at that. “Still, we failed to kill it.”

“Yes, but you proved it can be done.”

With that, Karyl hurled the shield.

Wham—!!

It spun through the air like a massive boomerang and slammed into Blood’s skull, splitting it open. Thick red blood gushed out in a pool, accompanied by black smoke that curled as it rose.

“You showed us the possibility of victory.”

“Grrrrgh... Ghhrrkkk...!”

Even with its head destroyed, the thing let out a grotesque groan as its chest-mouth twisted, trying desperately to regenerate.

“So now let me turn that possibility into certainty.”

Karyl slowly walked toward Blood. Everyone on the battlefield stood frozen, watching him in tense silence as he approached the First Tarak without hesitation.

“You’re strong, all of you. You’re not weak... You just lack information.”

He pulled Miliana’s sword from the ground and slowly lifted it.

Vmmmm

...

Rasis’s light flowed from his hand, seeping into Arc, making it glow golden.

“And that, I can give you, so watch closely. The First Tarak, which Yula has so proudly unleashed upon us, will become an example for how to slay these things. We’ll dissect it from top to bottom and collect all the knowledge you lacked.”

His voice dropped almost to a whisper. “When this battle is over, take what’s left of it, every last piece, and hang it on the highest mountain on the continent, where Yula can get a nice, clear view.”