[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
Chapter 477
In the quiet silence, I loosened up my body here and there.
I checked my condition.
To be honest, with my body having shrunk, I could clearly feel that I had become weaker than before.
On top of that, the fact that my condition wasn’t at its peak due to the limit-breaking training with Michael played quite a significant role.
If quantified, more than thirty percent.
However, was that a problem?
No.
Was it impossible to tear apart and kill that Bigfoot, who could barely cling to the title of an Ancient God?
Was it because of the corrosion?
Or some other issue, when facing that guy who wasn’t even in a perfect state?
That wasn’t it either.
Bigfoot was, for something bearing the title of an Ancient God, a being that fell into the very weak category.
Maybe before, but how much power had I accumulated up to now?
The moment I laid out information about it and myself in my head and ran a light simulation, the angle became clear.
What?
This is easy.
Crack, crack—while making the sound, I loosened my body here and there and turned my gaze.
Those who met my eyes looked at me with expressions of shock, as if they were staring at a monster.
I took a short breath and immediately kicked off the ground, shooting up rapidly into the sky.
Thud—!!
Right after, a spear larger than my body returned and was grasped in my hand.
And then, its form changed into that of a sword.
The monster, whose head had been blown off and hardened, was recovering quickly, just as I expected.
To kill Bigfoot, something other than simple firepower was needed.
For example, something like poison.
“Serqet.”
At my call, an otter that had been curled up in the air as if annoyed appeared with a pop!.
Flailing its limbs as it paddled through the air, it met my gaze.
“Serqet. Let’s poison that.”
At my words, though it seemed annoyed, it faithfully dropped rapidly toward the headless Bigfoot.
As if sensing instinctive danger, Bigfoot’s head regenerated in an instant.
But by the time it reacted, it was already too late.
From Serqet’s entire body, which had latched onto it, a violet poisonous haze seeped out and began to infiltrate its skin as if alive.
-!!!!!!!
With a horrific scream, it staggered, struggling to shake Serqet off.
But the massive creature’s hands darted around its own body and failed to catch Serqet, who was inducing the poisoning.
Realizing it was a fatal threat, it desperately tried to shake Serqet off, but in doing so, it completely lost focus on me—that was quite fatal.
Its body rapidly became poisoned, losing even its form as it collapsed.
At first, I thought so.
This guy’s nothing special?
And in reality, that was true.
There were countless types of giant-type monsters, but aside from having slightly large feet and extremely high regeneration, Bigfoot was at a level where you’d wonder if it even deserved to be called an Ancient God.
Right.
Back when I was deceived by it and died the first time, how absurd that had been…
To begin with, Bigfoot wasn’t named that because of its appearance as a giant with big feet.
Pwahaaaaak!!!
“Ugh?!”
“Th-that… what is that?!”
The collapsed mass of flesh suddenly began to swell and expand.
What was revealed was a massive, amorphous lump of flesh.
And from various parts of that lump, a total of eight enormously thick legs sprouted, pressing heavily against the ground.
Bigfoot.
Its true form had been revealed to the world.
Even while poisoned, it faithfully manifested its traits.
Pshiiiiiiiiik!!!
Soon, a poisonous haze that caused extreme hallucinations began to spread around it.
Most of those trapped in Bigfoot’s hunting ground had evacuated, so even if part of the imperial palace collapsed, all that remained was to annihilate that thing violently.
Then, in my sight, I spotted a girl who didn’t belong in this place at all.
Where had her escort gone?
She was running frantically, her face filled with terror.
And as if chasing her, two hunting dogs, tainted purple, were sprinting toward her at high speed.
“D-don’t come!! Don’t come!!”
Princess Yustina.
Come to think of it, I felt like I had heard that Princess Yustina had been isolated.
She was the younger sister of Princess Eilena, still just an 11- or 12-year-old young princess.
Without hesitation, I changed direction and dropped toward Princess Yustina.
KWA-AAAAANG!!!!
And I crushed the hunting dog chasing her underfoot, bursting it apart.
“Eek!!”
I approached her as she screamed and fell flat.
“W-who… who are you?!”
Terrified and on the verge of tears, she looked at me with wide eyes.
“Where is your escort, and why are you alone?”
At my question, she burst into tears.
“Sir Veil… Sir Veil abandoned me and ran away…”
At her words, tears falling steadily, I made a dumbfounded expression.
The escort of a princess got scared and ran away?
Ha… there’s no way he’ll die peacefully.
Soon, the hunting dogs released by Bigfoot appeared from within the poisonous haze, surrounding us.
The poisonous haze tried to coil around us moment by moment, but the storm raging around me completely blocked their approach.
“Then you’re alone?”
“Sniff… sob… waaah!!”
Perhaps relieved to have met someone, even if I looked much younger than her, she sat down and burst into loud sobs.
In a situation where the poisonous haze had spread, evacuating her wasn’t a very good decision.
I spread mana around her and created a hemispherical barrier.
“Stop crying. Can you stay here quietly and wait?”
“Sniff… sob…”
Still sobbing, she nodded.
“Good. If you stay hidden inside this hemisphere without going anywhere, I’ll give you a tasty snack as a reward.”
Only then did she look at me with tearful eyes.
“Y-you… aren’t you scared? Of that monster? You look younger than me…”
I gently reached out my small hand and stroked her head, as if comforting a frightened child.
Just like I used to with Arsha when she was still young.
“No. I came to save Your Highness, so I can’t be scared, can I?”
Speaking softly as if soothing a child, her eyes widened.
When Arsha was trembling from PTSD, calming her like this used to help her settle down.
Since that was the only way I knew to calm a child, I used it as it was.
And as expected, it was quite effective.
She stared at me with wide eyes, then slowly nodded.
Afterward, I stepped away from her and swung the divine artifact Pragarach into the space between Bigfoot and me.
Crack!!
For a brief moment, the poisonous haze between us was forcibly scattered.
It had several behavior patterns, but now that I looked, its body was condensing like a chrysalis.
Is it metamorphosing?
It’s not just rampaging?
The meaning of that was simple.
It meant it had judged my previous attack and the poisoning currently collapsing its body as threats.
To begin with, this poisonous haze was merely a power it spread to protect itself.
But I had no intention of leaving that alone.
“B-be careful!!”
As if realizing that I was about to attack it, it revealed its intangible hostility toward me without concealment.
In its chrysalis state, that was all it could do.
Looking at Princess Yustina, I asked as I had soothed her earlier.
“Your Highness. Do you like stars?”
“Eh… y-yes? Stars?”
Hiccupping, she looked at me and nodded.
“Good.”
I raised the sword held in both hands.
I gripped it firmly with one hand and supported the bottom of the grip solidly with the palm of the other.
Then, I wrapped explosive aura around the tip of the sword.
I did not use Overdrive, which forcibly raises one’s level.
Instead—
I simply drew out brute force and manifested it as if imitating the power of a higher realm.
My body screamed, unable to withstand the aura within, but I paid it no mind.
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
After all, muscles grow stronger and bigger by tearing and recovering, don’t they?
[Unnamed Sword]
[Star Cluster]
Soon, the divine artifact Pragarach began to emit light.
The aura sparkled like stars, engulfing the surrounding area.
A massive leg swung by Bigfoot came flying toward me.
But as if waiting for it, a red flash flickered, and the Sword Saint’s aura blade inflicted a large wound on its leg, hindering its movement.
It began to regenerate rapidly, but that fleeting moment was enough.
I stepped down hard with my left foot, stamping the ground.
From the point where my small foot touched, massive cracks spread, shattering and overturning the earth.
And then, my sword imbued with stars swung down.
At the same time, my figure scattered, leaving afterimages like scattered starlight.
Crack!!
Suddenly, near Bigfoot’s enormous body, a sword strike containing a giant star descended without losing its form, producing a tremendous roar.
Following that, without pause, dozens of star-infused sword strikes appeared and disappeared in succession, turning the surroundings into a cloud of stars.
A speed beyond perception.
A sword path unbound by rules.
An extreme sword force that encompassed all of it, annihilating everything within its range.
All of that rained down dozens, hundreds of times in a fleeting moment, creating a path of stars.
Even an Ancient God would have no means of enduring it.
Each time my figure appeared and disappeared, its body was torn apart and collapsed.
It tried to resist somehow, but all of its legs had already been severed, and its regeneration couldn’t keep up with the destruction.
It attacked desperately, but its attacks only struck the meaningless afterimages I had already left behind.
Moreover, whenever an opening appeared, curses of necromancy and the destructive power of elemental magic followed.
Not only raw power, but the buff abilities from the Hall of Communion maximized their effects.
Conversely, its body was subjected to debuffs and momentary seals, creating an extreme state where defense was impossible.
The method of combining multiple abilities—something I could never have dreamed of in Labyrinthos—had now become quite familiar to me.
“So pretty…”
From afar, Princess Yustina murmured in a daze.
However, aside from her, no one else could see the path of the sword due to the thick violet mist.
Within the energy it scattered, I could feel fear.
In that fear of not wanting to die, I kicked off the air and landed atop its dying body.
It struggled desperately, as if trying to escape from me.
However, its body, already ravaged by the Star Cluster earlier, was in no state to do so.
—Kiiiiiiiiiik!!!
A desperate scream tried to push me away in its final resistance.
But I aimed the tip of my sword at it and thrust it straight in.
Then, once more, I released the Star Cluster sword energy as if exploding it.
The legs that had been threateningly sweeping away everything around stopped, and the poisonous haze that had been ceaselessly pouring out also ceased.
Its body, which had been trying to resist Serqet’s poison while recovering from severe fatal wounds, lost its balance and collapsed.
Once it began to collapse, it was subjected to a second wave of Serqet’s poison and became completely poisoned, gradually crumbling apart.
As if it were a lie, the poisonous haze dispersed, and its massive body turned into particles of light and scattered.
Still, perhaps it had some pride, as it resisted the erosion of the Outer God—Bigfoot’s power had weakened far more than expected.
Perhaps that had played quite a big part as well.
Princess Yustina, who had been sitting down in terror, looked up at me blankly as I approached slowly.
“Good job. Here, a snack.”
When I took out a simple snack from subspace and handed it to her, she flushed slightly and spoke to me.
“You’re cool. Like a prince from a fairy tale.”
Well, children’s eyes tend to be pure.
Though no one had seen the monster die due to the violet haze filling the surroundings, there was no way Princess Yustina wouldn’t know.
She looked at me, her cheeks flushed like a girl in love.
Then, I saw the Emperor rushing over this way in a panic.
“Yustina!!”
“F-Father!!”
She sprang to her feet and ran toward the Emperor, who was approaching with knights, throwing herself into his arms.
“Ah… thank goodness. Truly, thank goodness. If something had happened to you…”
Unable to continue, he held the child tightly as if she might break.
I quietly bowed in respect as I watched.
“Sir Leon Cascadia… You have bestowed grace upon me again and again, saving both Eilena and Yustina. If not for you, we would have suffered unimaginable damage from that monster. And the unity of the continent, which must stand together, would have collapsed.”
“It was nothing, Your Majesty.”
“The Empire… will never forget this grace. Truly. Truly, thank you. Young Master Leon. It is such a pity that you are the guardian of the Bata Kingdom.”
He repeatedly said the same words while stroking the back of the crying Yustina.
Then, the Sword Saint appeared holding a sword stained with blood, smiled faintly at me, and said,
“Others may not have seen it, but I did. The cluster of stars adorning the sky. Truly, a supreme technique worthy of sharpening this old man’s eyes.”
“Thank you for your kind words.”
“You seem to underestimate yourself too much. More importantly… is that thing… dead?”
Instead of answering, I looked at the place where it had disintegrated.
“Well.”
I spoke calmly, but my thoughts were a bit different.
I had hunted the Ancient God Bigfoot several times, but this time, it felt unusually easy.
For something famous for its tenacious vitality to die like that didn’t make sense.
Where on earth had it left that stubborn life force?
I didn’t bother to voice it.
In the end, the fact that it was dead wouldn’t change.
At that moment, Yustina, still in the Emperor’s arms, dropped a bombshell.
“Father! When I grow up, I’m going to marry that prince!”
At her words, the surrounding air turned cold.
I looked at her, flustered.
Princess Yustina didn’t know who I was.
And since I looked around her age, it was understandable she might think that.
Still… wasn’t the setting a bit off?
In the strange atmosphere, I gave an awkward smile.
“Your Highness. I am not a prince, and I am not someone who can marry Your Highness.”
“No! I will! I read it in a book! Stories where a handsome prince and a princess get married!”
Ah… well.
She’s so pure it’s hard to say anything.
Honestly, I could end it by telling the truth.
But breaking a child’s heart like that pricked my conscience a bit.
It would resolve itself with time anyway.
Meanwhile, perhaps because she was born a princess and had a rather spoiled personality, Yustina seemed completely unaware of the confusion and impact of what she had said.
Ever since Eilena, I had felt it, but the Emperor, who loved his daughters dearly, had quite the expression.
He looked as though he was experiencing intense inner conflict over what to do with me.
Well, what kind of parent would just sit still when their young daughter said she liked someone already married and wanted to marry them?
So, I quickly pressed my hidden emergency escape button.
“Your Majesty. And Sword Saint.”
At my words, the two men looked at me.
“The knight who was escorting Princess Yustina… abandoned her and ran away.”
At those words, the atmosphere shifted completely in a different, icy direction.
It even felt as though everything had frozen over.
“Ran… away?”
“The escort who was supposed to protect her abandoned her?”
The Emperor’s expression looked as though he might tear someone apart at any moment.
Watching the terrifying presence of the two men, I grinned inwardly.
“Then I will take my leave. I must report the situation to Princess Bata.”
Having lightly tossed the bait, I left the place without hesitation, almost as if fleeing.
“Osberg. Who was Yustina’s escort?”
“Veil, was it? I can’t quite recall the name, but I remember him as a rather arrogant brat.”
“The son of Marquis Veil, a member of the noble faction. That arrogant one who prided himself on being a genius.”
Creak…
“Bring that wretch before me immediately. Make sure he’s kept alive.”
The chilling killing intent and pressure showed exactly why he was the Emperor.
“As you command, O Sun of the Empire.”
[Translator - Night]
[Proofreader - Gun]
