Chapter 6

Chapter 06: The Ego Sword Picked Me Up (6)

Artifact

I picked up a trident a Lizardman had dropped and threw it at Karkash.

CRACK-CRACK-CRACK!

As if it had struck a boulder, the trident shattered into pieces. But it was not as if there was no wound. Some of his scales had been scraped off, and blood flowed down.

An excited Karkash charged at me with thudding steps.

I swung Flambeju along the red solid lines. 2 Lizardmen lost their lives helplessly. Because that helmet had robbed them of their vitality, the Lizardmen’s movements were sluggish.

‘……Four, five, six, seven!’

I cut off the Lizardmen’s necks as if harvesting them.

―Behind you!

At the same time as Flambeju’s shout, a black shadow fell over my head.

I knew.

No, I had been waiting.

Just as Karkash’s spear was about to stab me, I twisted my upper body and avoided the attack.

At the same time, I reached out and grabbed his arm. Then I lowered my waist and used the force of Karkash flying at me against him.

THUUUUUD!

Judo also had restrictions. Dangerous techniques were limited so that they would not inflict fatal harm on the opposing athlete.

If it was a no-rules arena where every restriction had been removed, I had confidence I could beat anyone. Medalists were no exception. No, the more someone was like that, the more thoroughly I could crush them.

Karkash was driven into the ground with his neck bent. When I instantly dug my fingers into his forearm, green blood flowed out in streams.

At that moment, a red solid line appeared faintly, as if blinking.

WHOOOOOSH! BOOOOM!

Flambeju struck the ground. Karkash had dodged my attack by a hair’s breadth.

His endurance was no ordinary thing either. If he had been human, his spine would have snapped and he would have died, but that bastard was not human. He was a reptile. Straightening the neck that had bent in a bizarre direction, he glared at me with reddened eyes.

―This aura! It is a sacred object! The master of a sacred object! Kill him at once! Kill him and steal his vitality!

Grok Naal kept shouting, but unlike before, Karkash could not rashly charge at me. He seemed to have felt the gap between us from that collision just now.

‘This is troublesome.’

Karkash changed his strategy. Instead of charging in blindly, he used the other Lizardmen as meat shields. As they began narrowing the encirclement, even I could not help being a little flustered.

‘He may look like a reptile, but he knows how to fight with strategy.’

An eye for an eye.

When an opponent came out with strategy, I had to face them with strategy.

Only then could I completely break even the opponent’s mind.

Grin.

I pulled up one corner of my mouth and ran. I dug in from the side and aimed at another Lizardman.

Red solid lines!

Unlike Karkash, on whom no solid lines were visible, the others exposed even more weak points than when they first faced me. No matter how I cut them, I could take their lives.

The Lizardman group, robbed of their life force, could not flee far.

‘Grok Naal’s ability only works within a radius of 30 meters.’

Those farther than 30 meters from Karkash were relatively lively. However, instead of going farther away, they hurried to approach Karkash. It was because they feared Karkash.

Thanks to that, I easily killed the Lizardmen. And even when I could not kill them, I focused on attacking their legs to seal their movements. I was making it so they could not chase after Karkash as he ran all over the place.

The number of those bastards, which had exceeded 100, had already been reduced by nearly half.

“Kraaaaaah!”

When the enraged Karkash roared, the black energy stretching from his helmet swept over his kin. The more it did, the more strength the Lizardman group lost.

As if they were used to this situation, their faces showed resignation rather than panic.

They merely seemed to hope that Karkash would kill me quickly.

‘Fast!’

Karkash’s movements had become incomparable to before.

The Creator God made sacred objects, and the Demon God made demonic objects. And finite beings created artifacts by imitating sacred objects and demonic objects.

Artifacts were nothing more than derivatives, so their efficiency was inevitably poor. However, perhaps because he had thrown more than 50 Lizardmen in as sacrifices, the artifact’s efficiency momentarily overwhelmed that of a sacred object.

The Lizardman’s bulk had doubled.

―S-Save me!

The Lizardmen whose vitality had weakened collapsed on their own. It was because Karkash had drawn out a large amount of their life force.

At that moment, Karkash’s shadow shimmered before my eyes.

The instant I reflexively thrust out Flambeju, his tail aimed for my side.

CLAAAAANG!

The unexpected strike sent me flying like a kite with its string cut, and I tried to curl my body as much as possible to minimize the damage.

My whole body throbbed. I barely managed to get up and tried to grip the sword, but the sword tilted to one side regardless of my will. It was because of my palm, split open lengthwise, and my broken thumb.

I tore off my sleeve and wrapped it around my right hand. Thanks to the sleeve soaked in blood, Flambeju was firmly fixed to my hand.

―That much is magnificent enough! Your talent has been proven, so now withdraw.

“That’s why you only obtained Achievements of that level.”

―What?

“If you want to sit at the Creator’s right hand, open your ears and engrave my words clearly into them.”

Karkash charged at me. His speed was as terrifying as before, but he was not as threatening as before. It was because his movements were simple.

The moment I tried to dodge by stepping slightly aside, his tail tried to strike me again.

CLANG-CLANG-CLANG-CLANG!

I blocked Karkash’s tail with Flambeju. When I scraped off the debris clinging to his tail and hardened there, the flesh beneath was exposed, and green blood fell in heavy drops.

“If you withdraw moderately, you remain a moderate person. To go beyond moderation, you have to stake your life.”

―I…… am not moderate! I even gave up the Achievements I accumulated over infinite years!

“Yes. That is the resolve you fight with.”

I smiled and swung the sword. I was not cutting Karkash, but the neck of a Lizardman kneeling and gasping for breath.

Whenever Karkash ran, they trailed along behind him. Their role was to maintain a maximum distance of 30 meters, but in other words, that meant they could be killed by me at any time.

I cut down several more. Then I finished off the ones whose legs had been wounded and could no longer move. After that, Karkash’s bulk shrank a little.

―Offer your life force! Offer your lives! I shall grant you victory!

The artifact “Grok Naal” urged them on, but the other Lizardmen could not hear that voice. They merely sweated profusely and collapsed one after another.

Not even red solid lines were visible on those creatures. Their breath had already ceased.

The more Karkash rampaged like a madman, the clearer his end became. It was because of the structure that let him display power based on his kin’s life force.

Before I knew it, fewer than 30 Lizardmen remained following Karkash. Even those were on the verge of losing their lives at any moment.

Because Karkash’s movements while chasing me had dulled, I could leisurely shake him off and hunt the other Lizardmen.

“KIEEEEEEK!”

Karkash shrieked irritably and stabbed the kin who had pierced his back with a trident.

Among the Lizardman warriors, one had appeared who attacked Karkash in order to survive. As a result, Karkash reached a situation where he had to be wary not only of me but of his own kin as well.

―You foolish bastard! Offer your life force! Offer your life! Karkash, kill them all!

Grok Naal’s words were mostly the same. Perhaps it was an existence far inferior to sacred objects, so there were not many things it knew how to say.

In any case, Karkash followed Grok Naal’s will.

He suddenly changed direction and began killing his nearly dead kin.

Those who had trusted and followed Karkash lost their lives in an instant. Each time, Karkash’s muscles swelled, and his movements grew quicker.

However, that was by no means a good sign for Karkash.

“That artifact has started sucking Karkash’s life force.”

In my eyes, I could see Grok Naal sucking away Karkash’s vitality. The snake-shaped spirit wrapped around his head had sunk its fangs into Karkash’s neck.

―Where would the dirty bloodline of a demonic object go? Those things will collapse on their own if left alone! Dirty things that know not how to think and only chase instinct, unable to engrave even their names in the heavens!

Flambeju looked down on artifacts, but I did not think that way. After all, I had nearly died because of that thing.

‘Artifacts are merely tools. If used well, they can produce unexpected effects.’

Even if one absorbed someone’s life force, this was a world where war could break out and an entire clan could be wiped out.

“Grrrrrrr.”

Karkash twisted the head of a nearby Lizardman and glared at me.

The Lizardmen that had numbered more than 100 had become corpses, and the lone remaining Karkash approached me while swelling his muscles.

“You don’t have another sure-kill move or anything, right?”

―……Sure-kill move? Do you mean awakening?

“Awakening?”

―I have only heard of it and never experienced it. They say some sacred objects reach a new realm when their resonance with their master reaches the extreme.

In any case, there seemed to be no sharp method for dealing with Karkash right now.

Karkash blew out a long snort, then kicked off the ground and leapt. Just as he was about to stab me with his trident, I discovered a solid line piercing through his side.

CLAAAAANG!

Instead of swinging Flambeju, I blocked Karkash’s attack. Even if I could kill him with a desperate blow, I felt like I would have to give up at least one arm or leg for it.

Karkash’s spear did not break. It was probably because the black energy flowing from his helmet was wrapped around the spear.

―Hssssssst!

The one that had sunk its fangs into Karkash’s neck and was sucking his vitality raised its head and threatened me.

‘A red line?’

A red solid line could be seen protruding from the head of the snake wrapped around Karkash’s head. To be precise, a weak point had been exposed at the junction between the two.

Just as Karkash tried to kick me, I grabbed his right foot with my left arm and hooked his left foot, knocking him off balance.

It was a technique that did not require great strength, one that broke the opponent’s balance. However, this time as well, Karkash’s tail supported his body. He did not collapse completely, but only tilted to one side.

That alone was an opportunity for me.

SWIIIIISH!

I followed the trajectory of the solid line with Flambeju. It was not touching the snake, but the helmet “Grok Naal” where that thing dwelled.

CRACK!

Karkash’s red helmet split. And Karkash’s head was split slightly as well.

―N-No! This cannot be! How could you…… me…….

Grok Naal’s nerve-grating voice faded. And the helmet Karkash had been wearing fell to the ground, split in half.

At that moment, Karkash’s body twisted. Foam gathered at his mouth, and his eyes had rolled back completely, leaving him unable to regain his senses.

It seemed to be a kind of backlash.

Karkash’s once-thick body shrank rapidly, and soon became similar in size to the other Lizardmen.

Only then did I see the light piercing through his body. It was not a single line, but hundreds of strands gathered into a pillar of light.

SQUELLLLLCH!

When I cut through Karkash’s neck with Flambeju, the twisting of his body stopped as well.