Chapter Season 2 731

Translator: Alpha0210

How the hell was he supposed to beat this bastard?

Even as Kasajin fled for his life, he racked his brain for some kind of plan.

Running away. Coming up with a strategy.

The sight of him juggling two things so unlike him at once was almost laughable, but he did not even have the leisure to scoff. It would have been difficult enough to come up with a good plan while sitting still and concentrating, much less while being chased.

Should he just leave it to Lucid?

The thought crossed his mind for a moment, but he soon shook his head.

For some reason, he no longer wanted to leave what he himself had to do to someone else.

Was it because he remembered himself back in that Underground Temple, leaving the judgment to Lukas? Perhaps Kasajin, too, had been tormented by guilt all this time.

Damn it…….

Irritation kept surging up inside him, but buying time by running like this was not entirely a bad thing.

That Demigod was indiscriminately destroying everything around him, which meant he had no intention whatsoever of hiding what was happening. Naturally, the disturbance had already spread beyond one part of Sarman and was beginning to engulf the entire city.

Kasajin was not expecting any help from the temple. As far as he was concerned, those bastards were in league with the Demigods anyway.

…Lukas. Iris, too, would probably notice this commotion soon.

Those two would surely be able to come up with a good strategy even against a monster that disintegrated everything it touched.

Though in the end, that was no different from passing the problem off to someone else.

“Hup!”

He narrowly dodged a Black Droplet that suddenly came flying at him.

Not the enormous droplet, but one of the smaller ones the bastard had fired. Those damned things were a tremendous nuisance, moving without the slightest presence, not even making a sound.

At least the biggest one was so enormous that, as long as he maintained his concentration, there was no danger of losing sight of it……. But seeing something the size of a house drift around like a ghost was disturbingly unnatural. Its surface had no markings whatsoever, nor did it seem to reflect light, making even the distance difficult to judge.

Kasajin continued fleeing while throwing everything he could get his hands on. Sand, chunks of buildings, jars, cloth, even weapons some warrior had dropped.

The Black Droplet swallowed them all without discrimination.

Once again, the process made no sound whatsoever. The only reaction was a faint ripple across its surface just before the objects were absorbed.

“Give me a sword.”

A terse voice reached him.

It came from Lucid, who had caught up behind him without Kasajin noticing.

“Staying together is a bad idea.”

“I know. But first, we need to share what we know about the situation.”

“Mm.”

“I evacuated everyone nearby. We can fight as hard as we like without dragging anyone into it, so there is no need to hold back.”

“Not bad.”

“I did little. The warriors deserve most of the credit.”

Of course, persuading them had required him to reveal who they were.

“Would you hand me those?”

Lucid spoke as he pointed at what Kasajin held in his hands. The swords and spear he had picked up while fleeing, hoping to buy even a little time.

“What do you need the swords for?”

Kasajin asked as he simultaneously tossed him three swords and a spear.

Lucid deftly caught all of them, roughly secured them to the belt around his waist, then took up a stance to throw one.

He was going to throw it?

It was not a bad idea, but this could hardly be an attack Lucid was accustomed to.

Still, it would probably be far better than anything Kasajin could do at range. He could launch a hundred Blade Fists at that monster right now and probably fail to leave so much as a scratch.

“Hup!”

A fierce light flashed in Lucid's eyes. The breath he slowly exhaled carried such intense energy that it sent chills down the spine. At that moment, the muscles of the arm gripping the sword swelled.

Boom! The sword shot forward with the sound of an explosion. The stomp Lucid had driven into the ground just before throwing it had completely torn apart the road around him.

'This guy. Since when did he get this…….'

When had he gotten this physically powerful? Lucid had never been one to neglect his training, but this destructive power was astonishing.

As Kasajin marveled, the sword flew with tremendous force and buried itself directly into the droplet.

“Oh!”

Right. It had actually stuck!

Instead of vanishing instantly like a pebble tossed into a lake, it seemed to sink slowly, like a boulder disappearing into a swamp.

[……!]

That was not all. No ripples appeared across the droplet's surface. Instead, what looked like tiny cracks began to form.

“Did it work?”

There was still no sound, but seeing a reaction different from anything before was enough to kindle hope.

Yet the instant Kasajin brightened, the cracks vanished.

[…What an interesting thing you've done.]

A voice came instead.

It was still as unpleasant as fingernails scraping over an old, withered tree, but the displeasure contained within it was not a bad sign.

[But this power… yes. So you truly possess enough strength to kill one of our kind.]

The bastard was still completely at ease. Fucking prick. There was not even the slightest sign that he thought himself in danger.

'Monster…….'

Kasajin looked at Lucid and spoke.

“That attack just now. How many more times can you do it?”

“…Five in total. Four now.”

So the attack placed a heavier burden on him than Kasajin had expected.

Lucid stared at the Black Droplet and continued.

“I can increase the power to roughly three times what you just saw.”

“How? Want me to buy you some time?”

“That too. But I will use my own sword.”

Deukid?

For a moment, Kasajin was at a loss for words.

“That sword…….”

“It is my family's heirloom, and my treasure.”

For the first time, Lucid smiled faintly.

“But it is not more precious than my life. Right?”

“…….”

Kasajin pressed his lips tightly together.

It was not only Kasajin. A great deal had changed inside Lucid too. Of course it had. Even someone as unflappable as him was bound to think differently when one close friend had died, one had gone off the rails, and another was doing whatever he pleased.

The relationship among them, which Kasajin had wished would never change, had finally begun to change, and there was no stopping that tide.

Whether that was a good thing or not, he still could not say. Even so.

Lucid's attitude stripped away Kasajin's hesitation.

“Save Deukid for last.”

“Kasajin?”

“You've still got three more to throw. One of them is a spear, but… anyway, throw them one at a time with some distance between each. Same power every time.”

“Where should I aim?”

“The very top of the droplet, the middle, then the bottom.”

“I will.”

There was no real certainty in Kasajin's voice. If anything, he wore the uncertain look of a man who could almost grasp an intuition, but not quite. But Lucid had long known that this man possessed the keenest combat instincts among their companions.

Kasajin was a warrior before he was a martial artist.

When it came to fighting, he was an expert, so Lucid decided to trust his judgment.

Put another way, Lucid was staking his life on Kasajin.

Thump!

Kasajin kicked off the ground and closed the distance to the Black Droplet. It was an abrupt move, but instead of asking what Kasajin intended, Lucid threw the sword.

“Hup!”

Boom!

Once again, a sword shot forward and buried itself in the upper portion of the droplet. In the meantime, Kasajin had closed the distance until only two steps separated him from it.

At point-blank range, he stared wide-eyed at the droplet's surface, focusing on the spot where the sword had struck.

'Just as I thought. Cracks appeared.'

…One second, two seconds, three seconds.

The sword was sucked inside as though being gulped down, and the cracks vanished along with it.

[What an utterly pointless thing to do. But… yes. It is somewhat amusing. I think I am beginning to understand something……. Perhaps even I did not understand my own Authority as well as I thought.]

As the voice sounded again, countless small droplets swarmed toward Kasajin.

Kasajin swung the spear he had slung across his back and knocked the droplets aside, but he could not stop them all.

Sizzle!

“Kasajin!”

Lucid called out urgently, but Kasajin merely shook his head as if brushing it off. It was apparently meant to show that he was more or less fine, but he looked anything but.

Holes had opened in the skin touched by the droplets, as though it had been dissolved by powerful acid. In truth, considering the enemy's ability was Decomposition, or perhaps Disintegration, the comparison was not far off.

“Keep going!”

Kasajin shouted.

His concentration was extraordinary. The pain must have felt no different from having his skin burned away, yet he did not so much as blink, keeping his eyes fixed on the droplet.

Then Lucid had to answer in kind. He had to follow Kasajin's resolve.

He threw another sword.

Boom!

…Blood surged up.

He swallowed the blood that rose into his throat.

The claim that he could throw four more had not been a lie. But if someone asked exactly when the strain on his body had become too much, the truth was that he had already reached his limit on the second throw. From here on, every throw would turn his insides upside down. It meant permanent damage to his body, but that did not matter.

His opponent was a Demigod.

Lucid had never entertained the arrogant notion that he could win without getting hurt.

Snap!

The sword screamed through the air and this time buried itself directly in the center of the droplet.

Cracks appeared there as well.

…One second. Two.

[I told you it was useless, did I not? Were humans always creatures so lacking in comprehension?]

“Next!”

Another sword flew, this time slamming into the bottom of the droplet.

Kasajin's eyes flashed.

One second, two seconds, three seconds, four seconds…… five!

Only after a full five seconds did the cracks disappear, along with the embedded sword.

'There's a difference!'

Kasajin had been certain there would be a difference in the speed at which the bastard disintegrated things.

Swords, humans, sand, pottery, or any other rubbish……. The time required to break them down differed from one object to another. The swords Lucid threw were no exception. Kasajin did not know whether it was because of the power imbued in them, but the droplet could not absorb those incoming swords easily, and there was a slight delay.

From that, he had guessed that the droplet itself might have comparatively vulnerable areas, and just now, he had gotten his answer.

The closer something was to the exact center of the droplet, the faster the rate of disintegration!

Elsewhere, the process was slower than at the center, and the bottom was slightly slower than the top.

If so, then this bastard's most vulnerable point, in other words, the place that could be called its weakness, was the bottom.

Having reached his conclusion, Kasajin charged straight toward the droplet.

[Have you finally decided to give up, fool?]

A mocking voice rang out, but he ignored it. The droplet surged toward him as if delighted, and Kasajin felt as though he were leaping into the darkness below a sheer cliff. His sense of distance, even his sense of direction, seemed to disappear─ all he had left to rely upon were the instincts of his body.

─Just what he'd wanted!

Just before making contact with the droplet, Kasajin bent backward at the waist as though performing an acrobatic trick.

Even the Demigod could hardly have imagined such a flexible movement from a body built like a boulder. He bent so far back that he nearly toppled over, making his enormous frame seem to vanish for an instant.

[……!]

Flexibility alone would not have made the maneuver possible. It required an immensely trained lower body.

Kasajin could feel the muscles of his waist and legs contracting until they ached. His spine was bent almost to the point of breaking.

Without taking a posture this extreme, it would have been impossible to force his body beneath the droplet.

“You bastard. You've been floating just a little off the ground this whole time. If I had to bet, the part hidden against the ground is a lot more likely to be your weak spot than the top, where anyone can attack you easily. Right?”

[What a laughable stunt……! Can you even throw a punch from that position?]

“Of course I can.”

Kasajin answered evenly.

“I trained so I could throw punches in conditions far worse than this. Always.”

For example, while supporting his entire body on a single toe─.

Or using nothing but his wrist while keeping every other muscle in his body perfectly still─.

He had even asked Schweizer for special drugs so he could practice throwing punches with all five senses completely shut off.

Compared to his usual training, the posture he was in now was hardly difficult at all.

The Demigod spoke in a trembling voice.

[You fool! Do you intend to sacrifice your arm?!]

“Heh heh. You didn't ask if I intended to sacrifice my life. I knew I'd called it right.”

[Y-You mortal……!]

“Not ‘mortal’. ‘Finishing move’, you bastard.” [TL: Kasajin twists Delatan's ???, “mortal”, into ???, “finishing move”, exploiting the shared first syllable.]

In truth, it was nothing more than a simple straight punch, but if he poured every ounce of strength in his body into it, that alone would give it killing power.

It was an upward punch thrown with enough force to break the heavens.

Warrior King Fist Secret Art. Breaking Heaven.

───CRACK!

For the first time, the droplet made a sound. Clack, clack. Unlike before, it was not tiny droplets spraying outward. Hard fragments fell like shards of broken glass. Cracks spread across the entire droplet in an instant.

Crash! The enormous droplet shattered, revealing the old, shabby man within.

“You……!”

The droplet shattered in an instant, exposing the old, haggard man who had been sitting inside it.

“Thank you, Kasajin.”

Lucid closed the distance in an instant and first paid his respects to the friend who had risked his life to create this opportunity. Of course, Lucid was in no condition to call himself unharmed either. Blood streamed freely from his eyes, nose, and mouth.

Dizzy, he clutched Deukid in both hands. The famed sword of his family gleamed beneath the sunlight.

The Demigod, Delatan, stared at the sight in stunned disbelief and opened his mouth.

“N… no…….”

Lucid's sword split the old man in two.

From the crown of his head to his groin─ Delatan, cleaved perfectly in half, still shed tears of blood as he forced out a voice.

“This… cannot… be… I…….”

His disbelieving eyes turned toward the two humans.

That was the end.

Delatan could speak no more. His mouth opened and closed several times─ then the two enormous chunks of flesh hit the ground with a wet splat.

“Cough…….”

Almost simultaneously, Lucid spat out blood and collapsed as well.

“…Lucid?”

“…….”

“You alive?”

“…….”

“Good. That's a relief.”

Kasajin muttered, his face exhausted.

“…What the hell. So we could do it with just the two of us after all.”

He grinned.

Looking at his vanished right arm, Kasajin smiled.

*****

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