Welcome to Hell!

Chapter 29: Long Night in the Capital (6)

Oh, that was close. If I had been a little slower, the lightning might have hit me directly. After the sound of the thunder subsided, I emerged from the place where I had taken cover and looked around to see what was happening on the ground.

It seemed that the lightning that had fallen from the dark clouds was headed towards four distinct targets. From three distant places, the dying cries of the chunks of flesh could still be heard. However, that wouldn’t last long.

Naturally, among the things that were struck by the lightning, one of them happened to be the very chunk of flesh that I had pierced with the sand spear I had created. The sheer force of the electrical surge caused the target to disintegrate into a cloud of smoke and descend into the sandy depths, completely liquefied by the intense heat of the lightning.

If I had hesitated to act, even for a split second, I would have been forced to swim in the same molten sand. Having already gone through such a harrowing experience, I knew I never wanted to go through it again.

(Even though the lightning was divided into four parts, the fact that it could kill a creature full of strong vitality with a single blow…what tremendous power!)

Shuddering at the power of the lightning, I started to run away as fast as I could. Because I knew there was the possibility of facing someone who could perform a supernatural feat akin to a natural disaster.

I moved across the ground at top speed, my arthropod limbs moving frantically. This was much faster than traveling by transforming the ground into sand. However, I knew that there was a sharp killing intent targeting me ever since I emerged from the ground.

(Tch! As expected, they won’t let me escape!)

As the killing intent in the air became sharper, I jumped forward. And then a holy knight fell from the sky where I had just been standing. His sword was half-buried in the ground, and if I hadn’t avoided it, I would have been pierced through and pinned to the ground. It was really dangerous if I hadn’t noticed the killing intent.

The Holy Knight calmly extracted the sword from the ground, his face obscured by the helmet he wore. However, I couldn’t help but notice the marked differences between his equipment and that of his fellow knights. His armor, cloak, and the long sword he brandished were all distinctly unique in their design and quality, far surpassing the standards of other Holy Knights.

In particular, his sword was an oddity. Although its shape was reminiscent of the swords commonly used by holy knights, it was twice as long. Its blade, made of gleaming white silver, was etched with a spiritual circuit just like the others, but upon closer inspection, I noticed scale-like patterns adorning its surface. It was clear that this was no ordinary sword.

“…”

The Holy Knight raised his sword to the high guard without saying a word. Then the surface of the sword shone and crackled with flashes of lightning, creating thunderclouds and revealing his proficiency in manipulating lightning by using thunderbolts to finish off his enemies. Therefore, I was not surprised when I saw him discharge electricity from his sword.

What surprised me more was how he closed the distance between us in an instant. He was so fast! Too fast! And there was no preparatory movement at all!

I instinctively jumped backward while strengthening my pincers with fighting spirit as much as possible. However, the combination of the Holy Knight’s skill and his extraordinary sword was too deadly. My exoskeleton was easily penetrated, and my left pincers were deeply slashed.

(I’m done for! But I’m still moving! If I can burrow underground and launch a surprise attack…!?)

As I tried to turn the ground into sand and burrow into it, the Holy Knight swung his sword casually on the spot. Then, dozens or hundreds of branching lightning bolts were emitted from the sword.

With no opportunity to leisurely burrow into the ground, I hastily constructed a sand wall to shield myself from the onslaught of lightning bolts. Despite appearing to be a haphazard spiritual art, its formidable power was not to be underestimated. Even without considering my exhaustion, I knew I wouldn’t have been able to withstand it without a robust defense.

(After meeting this opponent face-to-face, it seems that trying any tricks on them is futile. But fighting head-on with them is also impossible… Hahaha! This is the most desperate situation I’ve ever been in.)

I had attracted the attention of an unimaginable opponent. There was almost no chance of winning. Perhaps if I had ignored the grave and escaped quickly, I wouldn’t be in this situation now. But it was too late to think about such things.

So, should I give up? That was impossible. Because I had a mission to “survive for a hundred years”!

“Gichi gichi gichi!”

I exerted all my strength to raise my fighting spirit. My exoskeleton was enhanced to its limits, and the wounds I received were healed and sealed. In response, the holy knight also heightened his fighting spirit, and his intimidating presence grew increasingly stronger.

As expected, his fighting spirit surpassed mine, but the gap wasn’t insurmountable enough to render my attacks entirely ineffective. In other words, I could kill them with my pincers or poisonous stinger. Therfore, there was no reason to be excessively fearful. To survive, I had to kill this person!

Our fighting spirits clashed, creating a deafening sound that reverberated through the air. There was no time to take a breather from this point onward. A desperate struggle begins.

“Shh!”

“Gyiii!”

The holy knight and I both charged at the same time. I blocked the belly of the long sword swung by the holy knight with my tail and swung my pincers to cut off his legs. However, my right claw was stepped on, and my left claw was corrected to defend against the flow of the longsword that I thought I had deflected.

Damn it, not the left pincers again! Could it be that the long sword is enchanted in some way? Despite putting in all my effort, my exoskeleton was scraped off once again. If even the toughest part can be damaged, then employing my fighting spirit would be pointless, regardless of which other part is attacked.

“…”

The Holy Knight kicked my pincers while falling back and discharged purple electricity. It was nothing but a diversionary spiritual art, and I believed I could avoid it, which led me to charge straight ahead.

There was a considerable disparity in spiritual arts proficiency between Georg and the Holy Knight. Nonetheless, Georg trained with numerous intricate spiritual circuits to produce more potent spiritual arts than this. I was accustomed to experiencing it every day, so I believed that I wouldn’t feel much even if I were to take the hit, considering it was just a diversionary technique. I was confident that my pain threshold was higher than that of the Holy Knight.

“Giiii!”

“!?”

It appeared that he didn’t anticipate me completely disregarding the numbness and pain that coursed through my entire body, which allowed me to catch him off guard. I utilized my pincers to strike the Holy Knight’s shins, slicing shallowly through both his armor and flesh, while my tail segment forcefully dented the sides of his helmet.

I had inflicted a wound, but it was far from fatal. It was a great shame that the poisonous stinger hadn’t pierced his head but only dented his helmet. The holy knight remained silent as he discarded the distorted helmet.

As the helmet came off, an old man with long white hair revealed himself. I was taken aback by his appearance. While his previous melle round of exchange wasn’t particularly impressive, he possessed a remarkable level of strength and agility that was difficult to believe for someone of his age.

However, at the same time, I couldn’t help but be convinced. It’s often said that living beings can continue to grow if they don’t neglect their efforts, and it was evident that this old man had accumulated a great deal of training over the years. Considering that, it seemed natural to me that an old man could be so formidable.

Rather, it would be better to think that I was abnormal for managing to injure this holy knight when I was only two years old or so. Though this was all thanks to Geolge’s training, who was pushed to the brink of death…I don’t want to admit it, but that is the truth.

“Shhh!”

“Gitch!”

The battle had returned to square one, and it didn’t mean that I had gained the advantage. Rather, the absence of the helmet only meant that the opponent might have an advantage by having a wider field of vision.

However, what was helping me was that the old holy knight was not accustomed to fighting scorpions. It seemed difficult to deal with the pincers swinging from a very low position and the stinger attacking with a complicated trajectory.

Nevertheless, he was gradually learning and adapting, and the danger was decreasing. At the same time, the wounds on my pincers were increasing, and there were cracks on my tail segment. The difference in strength was showing in the battle.

“Support the captain!”

“Understood!”

Moreover, the enemy was no longer alone. The sound of clashing swords and claws echoed throughout the entire city, and other holy knights, who had heard the commotion, gathered to join the fight. Dealing with the holy knight in front of me was already a handful, but the thin chance of victory had become even slimmer due to the enemy’s reinforcements.

The holy knights did not interfere in our fight; instead, they started sniping at me from afar with spiritual art attacks. Although I had strengthened my body with fighting spirit, the attacks were still hard to ignore because they caused the flames to spread or hindered the movement of my tail segment.

The attacks that were supposed to be visible were no longer visible, and the defenses that were supposed to be on time were no longer on time. The number of wounds increased exponentially, and finally the limit was reached.

The explosive flames created a smokescreen that completely blocked the vision of my compound eyes. I could not react to the approaching sword beyond it. I managed to jump to the side in an instant, but my left pincer and two jointed legs were cut off at the base.

“Whoa!”

“As expected of our leader!”

“Justice will be served!”

The holy knights cheered loudly and exaggeratedly as the lightning wrapped around the long sword and penetrated through my wounds and tensed up my muscles. Given enough time, I could recover, but I wasn’t going to be given that luxury. I would be cut down before that could happen.

(I guess everyone thinks so, but that’s not going to happen. I’m going to struggle until the end!)

I had been anticipating this very moment, knowing that I would eventually be brought down. As soon as one of my legs was severed, I sprang into action and triggered a powerful explosion, accompanied by a blinding flash and a deafening roar.

This particular technique was not unfamiliar to me, as I had encountered it before in a battle against a white lizard that wielded its tail as a weapon. Despite its tail being fragile and prone to breaking, the lizard had a clever strategy. It would infuse a spiritual technique into its tail just before it was severed, and then detonate it at precisely the right moment.

I couldn’t adjust the timing of the explosions as freely as it could, but I could rig it to explode when it hit the ground. The old holy knight shielded himself from the eplosion with one hand, but the other knights were stumbling around, covering their ears and eyes. I had to move now while they were distracted.

“…!”

The old knight blocked the flash of light with one hand and swept his long sword towards my location. However, I was no longer there. I had already moved away.

You might think that I ran away, but that would be wrong. If I had tried to escape now, I would have been quickly caught and killed. So, where was I headed?

“AAAAHHH!”

“Hey!”

I headed towards the gathering of knights who had come to assist my enemy. Their numbers were large, which worked in my favor. Now, can you swing your sword freely among your allies? can you use your powerful spiritual arts?

The strongest defense against the enemy’s attack was their own allies. If you think it’s cowardly, then think what you will. I will do whatever it takes to survive and kill you here!

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