Chapter 316: Sinister Melody

Just as Selene prepared to carve out the parasite from his flesh, she was interrupted by a sound.

Meow!

The golden cat finally came out of hiding, running towards them. Selene paused and glanced at it. At least it was safe.

Leon grunted again, then spat out fresh blood. His lips slowly curved into a grin, and he said, "It really worked. I killed it."

Selene’s brows furrowed. "You killed it?"

Wiping the blood from his lips, he stood up. "More like I digested it. A little revolting, but efficient. Phew."

She stared at him, speechless. "Why did you do that anyway?"

"What?" He turned to her. "You’d have preferred if I cut off your leg?"

Selene fell silent. They locked eyes for a few seconds before Leon averted his gaze.

"I didn’t ask for your consent. Sorry about that."

Selene stared at him for a second, still pale from the pain and the residual ice. Then she gave a short, humorless scoff.

"I noticed. You’re a pervert."

She paused, then added more quietly,

"...But you managed to get it out. So I’ll let it slide."

Leon nodded and picked up the cat by the scruff of its neck.

"You little beast. Where did you run to?"

Meow...

It replied softly, its ears dropping in shame. Leon wasn’t offended, so he passed it to the cat-loving girl and looked around. A frown appeared on his face.

"Do you hear that?"

He turned to Selene, seeing her grave expression.

"Parasites... they’re converging here."

Leon blinked, then smiled thinly. "Oh, great."

Keeping his spear away, he stretched a hand toward Selene. "Give me the axe."

"Huh?" She paused, then shook her head. "I’m not giving you."

Leon’s smile faded. "Please don’t let me get annoyed at you too. Just hand it over."

The young lady shivered, as something felt wrong about his voice. She didn’t know why, but she somehow took out the poleaxe and gave it to him even though she initially didn’t want to.

Leon took a deep breath as he grabbed the weapon. The air around him warped and twisted, like something was boiling.

Selene shifted back to the wall, still holding the cat in her arms. Leon glanced at her and gave a warning.

"Don’t call my name until I’m done. Otherwise, I might try to kill you again."

With that, he took slow steps forward, wholly embracing the influence of the weapon on his mind.

He felt conflicted. For a few days, he had trusted Merlin and his parents, believing they were reasonable. However, he had been wrong about them. They still betrayed him—at least the parents did.

The ambush had been a deadly one, even though it didn’t last long. If it had been anyone other than Selene fighting the three black-armored Vaelari, they would have been killed.

Even the young lady had been deliberately infected, almost being turned into a parasite. If she had turned... would he have killed her by himself?

’Ah...’

The thought made his blood boil, and his opinion of the Vaelari changed. They were no longer a tragic race traumatized by their history.

They were madmen who intentionally blinded themselves with their own rules. Naturally, that didn’t really matter to him. However, since they were determined to doom him and his partner, then he would return the favor.

By now, the parasites had closed in, lured by something the three Vaelari warriors had stealthily dropped before leaving.

Leon didn’t know this, and it didn’t really matter. He was determined to kill them, anyway.

Taking one last deep breath, he felt a change in himself. Strength flooded his body, and he felt increasingly lighter. His eyes turned completely black, his pupils changed into a shade of crimson.

A sharp hiss escaped his lips as he felt something burning away his thoughts. Soon, only one thought was left in his mind.

’Kill...’

As he took a step forward, he started hearing it—a melody. It was utterly clear, and he couldn’t sense the source around him. It was as if the song came from his own mind.

He paid little attention to it, though. Instead, he simply did as he wished to. He dashed toward the parasites, swinging his poleaxe straight at them.

Bang!

The head of an elephant was crushed before it could even muster any defense. As its body dropped to the ground, he crushed the skull of a Vaelari zombie. Even before it could collapse, he was already onto another creature, his weapon already halfway through its skull.

Selene watched him with wide eyes. He had suddenly blurred, and a portion of the approaching parasites collapsed. They all had their heads crushed without seeing how they had died.

’How...?’ She asked herself, rooted to the spot.

She could barely perceive his movements. Leon moved unhindered within the horde, cutting down parasitized creatures like weeds.

He was like a child moving through a grassland, only silent and consumed by sinister wrath.

Leon butchered the parasites like a hungry wolf consumed by madness. He didn’t shout, and he didn’t roar. He remained silent. However, even his silence felt deafening to the ears, as one could clearly hear skulls being crushed, blood splattering, and corpses dropping.

It was a massacre. The parasites weren’t weak in the slightest. Many of them were strong, and they all attacked the human whenever they got the chance.

However, Leon didn’t care about their attacks. A few, he dodged. He merely tanked the rest. Even when a dark scythe tore through his armor and sliced open his back, he didn’t stop. Even when a beast’s fangs sank into his flesh, he merely crushed its head and yanked it off him.

Still, he was only one man. Surrounded by hundreds of creatures looking to kill him, he was soon overwhelmed.

A tentacle wrapped around his throat. One beast bit down on his shoulder while two others bit into his legs, trying to tear him apart. He was quickly pinned in place and immobilized.

Exhaling, he muttered, "Darkness Descent."

The light around him surrendered to darkness.