Chapter 23 – Snake Den (5)

Golden-shining coins,

Blood-red rubies,

Blue and cold sapphires.

These brilliantly shining ornaments had consistently stimulated people’s selfishness.

The bandits, who were accustomed to blood and murder, could not restrain their greed at all.

Without knowing that it was a shortcut into the coffin.

“Oooh!”

“Their heads are mine!”

Ferocious weapons gleamed beneath their glistening eyes and sputtering lips.

Hardened scabs and shriveled flesh were dried and stuck on them, showing how many people they had beaten to death.

Velloc decided to respect their greed. However, he did not intend to respect their lives.

Velloc lowered the greatsword he had slung over his shoulder. Then he silently gripped it with both hands.

The greatsword that harbored the blood and flesh of a demon. Butcher raised its massive frame.

Were they blind? The bandits blindly rushed in, regardless of whether a greatsword the size of a human torso was in front of them or not.

“Die!”

“Kahahahaha!”

Hand axes, longswords, and morning stars, all sorts of vicious weapons poured in at once. Velloc answered them with the greatsword in his hands.

Taking a large step forward just as he had when dealing with the demon Sam, he swung it. He simply swung it.

Boom!

Along with a roaring sound, the bandits’ weapons shattered all at once. It did not matter whether they were made of cast iron or how well the blacksmith had tempered them.

They broke. Without stopping there, the upper and lower bodies of the armored bastards were also severed.

A few short ones had their necks cut off.

Splaaash!

Blood sprayed like a fountain, and a rain of flesh fell from the sky.

“What…”

“Huh?”

After a storm passed, the bandits who were hit directly by their comrades’ pieces of flesh made dazed sounds.

Seeing five people cut to pieces along with their armor was not a common sight. So to speak, it lacked reality.

Whether the bastards were flustered or not, Velloc turned around and held the greatsword like a shield.

With a clashing sound, the outstretched arm of the Snake Lord was deflected by Velloc’s sword.

Clicking his tongue, the Snake Lord began to transform. Just like Sam, who had become a lump of blood, the guy who instantly became a monster as if shedding his skin let out a long roar.

“Graaaah!”

It looked like this guy would give more experience points than the previous one.

Would a lizardman look like that if it were grotesquely twisted and terribly changed? This seemed to exceed the limit of R-18. Velloc adjusted his stance and said,

“Adel. I will leave my back to you.”

It meant he would focus only on hunting the demon that appeared in front of him. Adel grit her teeth.

She wanted to shake her head right now. And she wanted to follow her master and stab that demon.

Because she was so ashamed of how she had been terrified just a moment ago.

She wanted to make up for her mistake. She wanted to say that she could do it, that she could be of help too.

Adel, who was thinking like that, soon shook her head.

‘You fool. Now is not the time to follow your greed. It is the time to follow orders.’

Even if she could not help, she could not drag him down. She would become stronger.

Adel, her eyes burning, tightly gripped her curved sword and shield. Soon, she rushed at the bandits with a fierce momentum.

“Shit. What is that?”

“The boss is… a monster?”

The bandits were flustered. Although he was a boss who routinely engaged in cruel acts and had terrible eating habits such as craving human flesh, he was still human.

Even if something felt off, he still had a human form. But what was that appearance?

It looked like a monster, no, like the appearance of a demon that was said to frequently appear outside these days.

‘So we were the demon’s lackeys until now?’

No matter how much they liked rape, pillage, and money, wasn’t following a demon morally a bit problematic? That was what the bandits thought.

“Die!”

The bandits’ misfortune did not end.

The female knight, whose eyes had rolled back, threw herself at them.

The knight who swung the huge greatsword earlier was scary, but a human clad in full plate armor swinging a blade was also terrifying.

The bandits screamed in horror.

“Do… Don’t come!”

“Shit. We didn’t know that bastard was a demon— Ugh.”

The neck of the bandit who was flailing his arms was cut off at once. The curved sword made by a master craftsman was not as heavy as a greatsword, but its sharpness was exceptional.

Another bandit next to him reflexively thrust his spear. *Clang.* But the plate armor was not just for show. The spear shaft bounced off.

The bandit’s face twisted sorrowfully.

“Fucking plate ar—”

The bandit could not finish his sentence before his head was smashed by the shield swung by Adel.

Blood and brain matter dripped from the shield. Adel breathed heavily.

To the bandits, that small sound sounded like a death sentence.

“I… I surrender.”

Some threw down their weapons and sat down, while others fled. However, Adel swung her sword without mercy.

Although it was practically close to venting her anger, thanks to that, the bandits who were eating away at Oker Village became guests of no return.

Crash!

At that moment, a roaring sound was heard from behind. It was the sound of Velloc’s greatsword crushing the Snake Lord’s torso.

“Ugh.”

Vomiting blood, the guy wriggled as he lay on the floor. His glistening scales were shattered and hideously peeled off, and his limbs had become flat like some deep-sea fish living somewhere.

The guy who played the dignified ruler while wearing a human mask.

But now he was just a dying lump of experience points. If he just caught this guy, he would level up.

Velloc raised Butcher. Although he had crushed the monster’s sturdy body multiple times and shattered the stone floor, this ridiculous greatsword did not chip at all.

If it could be swung properly, it was truly worthy of being called a terrible weapon.

“W-Wait! Sir Velloc!”

The Snake Lord spoke as if spitting blood. *Gurgle.* No, he actually spat blood. Velloc, who was looking forward to the experience points he would give, looked down at him with eyes that glowed with a slight heat.

“Why?”

“Do you have any intention of becoming His apostle? If you only accept the egg in my stomach, eternal life…”

Crash!

Velloc ignored the Snake Lord’s struggle and slammed down his greatsword. The stone floor shattered again, and the monster’s neck was buried in it.

Was he crazy? To become a monster that spat out snakes from its mouth. It wasn’t like he was someone from Maple Leaf Village.

“Is it over?”

Adel’s voice came from behind. When he turned his head, Adel, covered in blood, was smiling with a relieved face. Behind her, a mountain of bandits’ corpses could be seen. She must have relieved her stress in a big way.

Yes, now it was all over. Both demons had been killed. Velloc was about to say that their business in this village was also finished. At that moment, startled, Velloc quickly kicked off the ground and backed away.

“Why… Why are you doing that?”

At Velloc’s unusual aura, Adel also tensed and adjusted her stance. Velloc’s arms were tightly gripping the greatsword, and his gaze was fixed on the mangled corpse of the Snake Lord. Velloc muttered.

“…It didn’t come in.”

At the faintly heard sound, Adel took off her helmet and asked again.

“Pardon?”

“The experience points didn’t come in.”

“What does that…”

Experience points and leveling up. Strange words that her master would occasionally mutter when fighting.

Adel still did not know the meaning of those words. However, judging by her master’s atmosphere, she could tell it was by no means a good feeling.

Velloc, holding the greatsword in one hand, put the helmet back on his squire to prepare for what was about to happen. At that moment,

*Crackkkk*

Along with a strange sound, an anomaly occurred. The corpse of the Snake Lord, which had been wedged in the corner, stood right up.

It wobbled like a street balloon for a long time, then tilted its head with only its neck remaining. Then, seeing the two knights glaring at it, it clapped its hands as if understanding.

[I told him to hold onto them to use as a new vessel, but he ended up defeated instead.]

“It speaks even though its head was blown off…?”

“…”

Adel spoke as if disgusted. Velloc’s eyes also gleamed.

Because the belly of the standing corpse began to swell.

[I wanted to accumulate a bit more power, but it can’t be helped.]

As it turned out, the voice did not sound in their ears. It sounded in their heads. Adel grew even more tense.

The Snake Lord’s belly was now swollen like a pregnant woman’s. At a certain point, the massive belly burst with a crunch.

“Kieeeek.”

Defying the pouring blood and intestines, a small snake revealed itself. Its entire body was jet-black, and its eyes were blood-red like rubies.

Soon, the creature, shaking its body, let out a hissing shriek. Then, an ominous energy surged around it, and pitch-black smoke spread in all directions.

The demon snake Botis, who had merged with the Snake Lord and was wriggling in his stomach.

Velloc did not know. He did not know that Botis, who had devoured its host a step ahead when it was in danger of dying, was about to wake up now.

Nor did he know that, unlike when the demon Baphomet was incomplete, the Botis waking up now possessed almost its full power. However, he could feel an unusual presence.

[Unquenchable Fighting Spirit] rang a warning at the appearance of the newly emerging monster, and the body of the knight who had been through all kinds of hardships reacted fiercely.

In the midst of that, his memories as a modern person slipped in.

In this kind of situation, usually…

“A giant monster appears.”

Leaving behind the tingling demonic energy, Velloc sheathed his sword and scooped Adel up.

“V-Velloc-nim?!”

“Understand even if it’s a bit rough, Adel.”

Whether Adel was flustered or blushed, Velloc held her tightly. And then he ran swiftly.

Over the corpses of the bandits piled near the entrance, he kicked the door open with a bang.

No matter how outstanding his stamina and strength were, running while holding a greatsword weighing dozens of kilograms, armor, and even a heavily armed squire was indeed difficult.

However, seeing the castle’s interior rumbling as if it would collapse at any moment, he had to muster whatever strength he didn’t have and run.

Thud, thud, thud.

Velloc’s steel greaves scraped harshly against the stone floor. He crossed the curved passageway he had come up following Sam and descended the stairs.

The momentum of the collapsing ceiling and falling stone fragments became increasingly bolder. The torches hanging on the walls danced wildly in response.

Through the flickering light, Velloc continued to push through the chillingly cold stone tomb.

As his breathing grew rougher, his steps also became faster.

However, the two of them were not the only ones in this place.

A few bandits, who had been sleeping drunk and thus did not know the situation upstairs, appeared rubbing their eyes.

“What on earth…”

“Shit. What’s going on? Hey, who are you again?”

They soon asked as they saw Velloc and Adel running through the passage. However, Velloc lightly ignored their words and passed them by. The bandits stared at Velloc’s back with dumbfounded expressions.

“What is that bastard?”

“How should I know? What the hell… Huh?”

The moment the bandit scratched his head, the ceiling collapsed with a rumble and a huge boulder fell. This poor bandit’s thoughts cut off there.

With that as the trigger, Oker Castle, built on the cliff, began to collapse with a roar.

Support beams, wood, and bricks that formed the skeleton of the castle poured down in heaps. Dust fluttered, and the rain that had been pouring since night soaked it.

The rising dust turned into muddy water and flowed down, and even thunder flashed.

A night where even the moonlight had completely vanished.

Crash!

The demon that squeezed out of the stone tomb. Botis let out a bizarre shriek.

“____!”