Kuro no Maou

The archer tried to pull his bow, aiming towards the approaching enemy. He was a member of the ‘Gladiators’ and had typical archer equipment with his quiver on one side of his chest armor. But the next moment, he was fluttering in the air, spilling fresh blood all around from his chest.

And what’s worse is that his body was thrown outside the wall, leaving him falling 15 meters before hitting the ground.

Seeing him disappear into the distance, the one who did that to him descended on to the passage. A sharp, heavy landing noise resounded throughout the hard stone paving.

A huge green lizardman—that was the first impression it gave off.

However, one would immediately notice—that this thing isn’t just your average lizardman.

“Oi, that guy... has a lotta arms, rather, there’s even an orc face coming out from its chest.”

There was a hairy strong arm coming out of its shoulders and an aggressive orc’s face from its chest. Even for a monster, it looked horrible.

Seeing that repulsive creature, I instinctively stopped the shooting with The Grid and shifted my attention to the monster which made its way to the passage.

I don’t know what that thing actually is but I can tell that it will be a difficult opponent.

Well, I guess anyone would with a single glance. The adventurers near him were already equipped with their close-quarter combat swords and were about to charge at him from all four directions.

“Be careful. This thing climbed up the wall at an unbelievable speed.”

“I have never seen anything like it. What kind of a monster is this?”

“Oho? If we get rid of this guy, we will be getting more reward then!”

Even with such a disgusting opponent in front of them, the adventurers showed no signs of flinching. I have nothing but respect for that courage and nerve but–

“Ssshhh—”

And once again, blood spilled out.

The group of 3 swordsmen had some coordination between them but with just a turn of the lizard monster with its claws out from its 4 arms, they were easily blown away.

One of them couldn’t even let out a death scream as his head was only attached to his body by a single layer of skin. The other guy got blown away outside of the wall as well and had a sure death in his fate due free falling 15 meters.

“Uhh, guuhh.....”

The remaining guy was the only one who was able to hold on to his life with a deep scar on his chest, going through his leather armor. His blood wouldn’t stop overflowing and that’s a wound which even a dozen potions can’t heal.

Although, he was killed before anyone could even do that.

The monster calmly started slowly taking steps on the passage. First step, second step—and in front of the third step was the wounded adventurer’s head. And with a sharp crackling sound, his head was smashed.

“Normal adventurers are no match for it, huh...”

“Be careful, Kurono! That thing has gone berserk with ‘angel ring’!”

Lily shouted right behind me. I needed a moment to understand what she meant.

“Darnit, that’s the ‘angel ring’, eh?!”

Although late, I realized what it was. No, maybe I didn’t want to realize what it was.

On the orc’s head which came out of the lizardman, I could certainly spot a familiar white ring attached.

In other words, that monster is the new experiment of the ‘White Sacrament’.

“It’s probably a chimera!”

“Chimera, eh... Darn it all, they sure go around making some really twisted shit.”

From the looks of it, the ring isn’t only doing the brainwash, it’s also responsible for the orc being the base for the lizardman and the numerous other body parts on him. Whether they did it with magic or just by surgery, I don’t know—I don’t even want to know.

For now, I guess I will call this thing a lizard-chimera.

“I will take care of that thing. Lily, support me. Fiona, keep doing what you’re doing.”

“Okay!”

“My help isn’t needed for something like that, right? Understood.”

No matter how big it is, this is still the passage. If Fiona were to provide cover fire at a place like this, the defense line will crumble. In other words, you should not shoot. Don’t make me say it out loud.

Although, even if it’s not Fiona, one can’t really use long-distance attacks or area attacks here. I should refrain from using The Grid since it will spread a lot of bullets.

I threw it aside and brought out my number one partner, Zetsuonnata ‘Kubitachi’ instead.

“Master, Nata-senpai, good luck!”

Along with the cheer from Hitsugi in my head, I saw the Gatling gun being taken into the Shadow Gate again with Bind Art’s chains with a side glance.

A smooth weapon change. I feel like Hitsugi’s taking in and out skill has improved quite a bit from the past battle experiences.

And so, with the cursed hatchet in my hand, I charged straight towards the lizard-chimera. At this point, I hadn’t just gotten used to ‘Kubitachi’, it had become a part of my body. It kept letting out an ominous red and black aura, as if to urge me to quickly cut with it.

The distance between us was about 10 meters. But the problem wasn’t the distance, it was the crowd of adventurers in between.

“Fall back!”

“Uwoh!? It’s Nightmare Berserker!”

“Oohh, take care of that thing, Berserker!”

All the adventurers present there seemed to have realized the threat posed by the lizard-chimera as they all willingly let me cross. Thank you but at least call me by my name.

Without colliding against anyone, I reached the lizard-chimera in a blink.