Chapter 178

Chapter 178. The Assault (4)

The trembling figure that had been crouched like a child was nowhere to be seen.

Jackal frowned at his wrinkled eyes as he watched Elisha leisurely smoking.

“Huh…”

What he had provoked was the trauma deeply engraved within her.

No matter how strong her mental fortitude was, it shouldn’t have been so easy to overcome.

‘Did she overcome it with just a few words?’

And those words from a candidate she was teaching?

‘No.’

That couldn’t be.

“Kukukuku. You’re putting on a show.”

Jackal dragged a sharp dagger across his palm.

The pouring blood dripped onto the tattoo engraved on his body.

Uuuuung!

The pattern flickered with an ominous light.

“Boooooo!”

The Flesh Monster let out a horrific scream, writhing in pain.

Along with it, Elisha’s parents, made of flesh, screamed as if in agony.

“Ah, ah. It hurts, it hurts, it hurts.”

“Help… help… Elisha…”

“……”

Elisha’s expression hardened at the sight of her parents screaming.

She closed her eyes gently and spread her arms wide.

Whoooosh!

Dozens of spider threads shot out from her fingertips.

Elisha looked at her parents with sad eyes and took a step forward.

“Mother, Father… no… Mom, Dad.”

Not the cold and cruel spider of the abyss.

But the face of a mischievous girl who loved playing with the neighborhood children.

“Thank you.”

Tears streamed down Elisha’s cheeks.

Huu.

After taking a deep puff of her cigarette, she flicked the half-smoked cigarette away.

The naive girl’s expression disappeared, and the purple abyss spider’s eyes glowed fiercely.

“So, I’ll make it easy for you now.”

Kwaang!

She kicked off and charged.

“Boooooo!”

Whoooosh!

The tentacles that shot out from the Flesh Monster’s body aimed at her.

“Hahp!”

She swung her widely spread arms as if dancing.

Spider threads spread in all directions.

The tangled threads in the air formed a net.

The Flesh Monster’s tentacles got caught in the web and stopped.

Sticky blood poured down from the tentacles bound by the sharp threads like a waterfall.

“Boooooo!”

The Flesh Monster writhed and screamed.

Elisha raised one arm high and spread her hand toward the ceiling.

Whoooosh!

Spider threads shot out, and Elisha’s body soared high.

So high that even the dozens of meters tall Flesh Monster looked like a toy.

Elisha crossed her widely spread arms in an X shape.

“Bind.”

Like a spider casting a web to catch its prey.

Dozens, hundreds of silver threads tangled in the air and wrapped around the Flesh Monster’s body.

“Where do you think you’re going!”

Jackal shouted, trying to press his bleeding palm against the pattern.

“Kid, you’re so clueless. You should just watch quietly at times like this.”

Dale, who had appeared beside him.

Dale grabbed Jackal’s neck and kicked him hard in the stomach.

“Keuh…!”

Though called the Grand Archbishop of Beasts, a powerful Mine, the source of his power was the Monster Legion he controlled, not Jackal’s own combat ability.

Jackal rolled on the ground after being kicked by Dale.

Dale didn’t even glance at Jackal, watching Professor Elisha fight the Flesh Monster.

“Boooooo!”

The Flesh Monster, bound by the spider threads, thrashed its entire body.

The immense power from its dozens of meters tall body snapped the threads.

“Indeed, a brute force befitting its size.”

Elisha looked down at the Flesh Monster with cold eyes.

“But.”

Whoooosh!

More spider threads shot out.

They wrapped around the Flesh Monster’s body faster than they could be snapped.

“Bind. Bind. Bind.”

Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands.

An uncountable number of spider threads wrapped around the Flesh Monster like a tidal wave.

Tangling, twisting, overlapping.

Binding the Flesh Monster like an inescapable swamp.

“Gulp!”

Perhaps she had used her magic power beyond its limits.

A mouthful of red blood spilled from Elisha’s mouth.

The Holy Mark engraved on her chest hurt as if being stabbed by a knife.

Her entire body’s energy screamed as if it would burst.

But.

“Bind.”

Elisha didn’t stop.

She pushed past her limits, drawing out more magic power, clenching the Holy Mark.

She didn’t think about the consequences.

Such a carefree mindset couldn’t kill that horrific monster.

“Huff, huff, huff…”

Breath rising to her chin.

As the number of spider threads binding the Flesh Monster increased, Elisha’s face turned pale.

It was hard. Painful.

She wanted to collapse and rest right away.

Wouldn’t Dale take care of killing the Flesh Monster from here?

A sweet temptation rose in her mind.

It wasn’t wrong.

Dale already possessed strength far surpassing hers.

Having bound it tightly with spider threads, it wouldn’t be hard for him to turn the Flesh Monster into a handful of ash.

“Eli… sha…”

“Save… me…”

She knew.

That those weren’t her real parents.

Just puppets made of flesh to provoke her trauma.

But.

Even so.

“The end… must be by my hand.”

She recalled the memory.

The day her life was trampled.

The burning flames, rising smoke, and screams that seemed to tear the air.

The nightmare of that day.

The despair of that day.

With her own hands.

“Bind.”

And then.

“Crush.”

The spider threads binding the Flesh Monster rapidly contracted.

Crunch, crunch! Squish!

The sound of flesh being crushed.

A horrific scream that seemed to tear eardrums echoed through the abyss.

“Ah, uh.”

Blood poured from her nose.

Her entire body’s energy screamed from using magic power beyond its limits.

But.

“Huh.”

It was suffering.

Writhing.

The nightmare that had trampled everything of hers.

The endless despair.

Dying miserably while screaming.

“Eli…”

“Love… daughter…”

Squish!

The forms of her parents were crushed between the contracting spider threads.

And then.

Thud!

The Flesh Monster’s massive body collapsed to the ground.

“…Ah.”

Elisha’s body, which had been floating high, fell like a kite with its string cut.

Thud.

A warm embrace enveloped her body.

“Are you okay?”

“…Candidate Dale…”

Even if they were just fake puppets made of flesh.

The happiness that filled her chest was not something a child who had just killed their parents with their own hands should feel.

Dale gently laid Elisha on the ground and stroked her head.

“Rest. I’ll take care of Jackal.”

“…Thank you.”

Elisha nodded weakly and smiled faintly.

She crawled unsteadily to a nearby rock and leaned against it.

She wanted to lie down and sleep, but she couldn’t.

Jackal was still alive and well.

“Damn it, damn it, damn it…!”

Jackal cursed as he looked at the Flesh Monster’s body, crushed beyond recognition.

Sssss!

Smoke rose as the tattoo on his body gradually faded.

“Looks like your familiars have decreased?”

I smirked as I watched Jackal’s tattoo fading.

Jackal gritted his teeth and staggered back.

“What, are you trying to run?”

“Keut…”

I approached Jackal with leisurely steps.

Then.

“You insignificant things…!”

Jackal shouted as if having a seizure, roughly moving his feet.

An ominous light shot out from the fading tattoo on his body, and a few monsters appeared from the cracks.

The monsters had nine eyes.

Even for active heroes, they would need a party to face such powerful monsters, but to me, who had swept away even ten-eyed monsters, they were just like neighborhood strays.

“Looks like you’re running out of resources.”

“Kill! Kill that bastard!”

The monsters charged at Jackal’s shout.

Whoooosh!

I swung my ash-covered sword, cutting down the charging monsters one by one, while keeping an eye on Jackal’s movements.

“Keut!”

Jackal turned and ran as soon as he saw the monsters charging at me.

I clicked my tongue and watched Jackal’s retreating back.

“Is this all you’ve got?”

Using the monsters as bait to escape.

It was a pitiful sight, unworthy of the title of Archbishop.

Step, step.

I cut down the swarming monsters one by one, chasing after Jackal.

Suddenly, Jackal stopped in his tracks.

“Huh.”

Jackal, who had stopped, smirked.

He turned to look at me with a look of joy.

“Fell for it.”

“…What?”

“Huh, huhaha, hahahahahaha!!!”

Jackal laughed hysterically, holding his stomach.

“You fool… Did you really think I was running away in fear of you?”

Jackal shrugged his shoulders and looked at me.

As if all the pitiful acts he had shown were just an act, he smiled leisurely, and I narrowed my eyes.

‘What is it?’

Could he have more hidden tricks?

Since I hadn’t directly fought Jackal in my past life, I didn’t know exactly what he was capable of.

‘Are there more monsters besides the Flesh Monster?’

If so, the situation could get tricky.

Fighting wasn’t a problem, but Professor Elisha could get caught in the aftermath.

“……”

I stopped and glared at Jackal, and he spoke with a relaxed expression.

“Do you know what lives in this ‘Abyss’?”

“…What lives here?”

“Kukukuku! Of course you don’t! This is a demon realm where no one has set foot for the past 500 years!”

Jackal laughed, shrugging his shoulders.

“Listen well, brat. Here… there is a ‘Tyrant’.”

“…Tyrant?”

“The ruler of the third layer of the Abyss. The incarnation of death. The King of Monsters… There are countless names for him.”

Jackal continued.

“Let me tell you why I spent my whole life taming a Monster Legion and came down here.”

Jackal spread his arms wide with a grin.

“Hahaha! Witness! Revere! The moment the King of Monsters returns!”

An explosive surge of magic power erupted from his body, enveloping the surroundings.

“Come forth! Tyrant of the Abyss, Behemoth!”

With a cry filled with madness.

Jackal took a step, crossing the ‘line’.

And then.

“……”

“……”

A heavy silence fell.

“…Huh?”

Jackal looked around, confused.

He tapped the ground with his foot, frowning.

“What’s going on?”

Why isn’t it coming?