Chapter 156
Bibi's mouth fell open unconsciously. Even when he had beheaded the magic creature alone in the cave before, the witness had said there was just a flash of light and everything was over.
That light had come from Damian's hand. The light was so intense that the area lit up momentarily as if struck by lightning.
Neither magic nor divine power could be felt. A fierce explosion sound reached them belatedly, its shockwave shaking the entire area.
"...!"
Had he been hiding his true power until now? Had he volunteered to stay behind because he truly believed he had a chance of winning? Bibi desperately prayed this was the case.
Bibi's eyes wouldn't leave where Damian was.
***
Black midday with the sun completely gone. Acrid smoke from burning trees.
And from the water dripping off the phantasmal beast's body came the overwhelming stench of rotting corpses.
Finally, the phantasmal beast before them displayed its intimidating presence, raising its head high and baring its fangs. Getting pierced by those fangs would mean not just death, but not even having a corpse to preserve.
Black haze continuously rose from the beast's body.
Damian slowly assessed his opponent.
Large beasts needed enormous amounts of food to maintain their size. How many humans had this creature devoured to grow so large?
The phantasmal beast showed more interest in another target than Damian. It fixed its gaze on Bibi departing on the deer.
[Gainax... Gainax…]
The corpses endlessly crawling from the ground muttered Bibi's name. As if speaking on behalf of the phantasmal beast.
But with Damian standing firmly in front, they couldn't readily move forward.
Damian pondered.
Why did they desire Bibi, that goddess' blood? Why had they imprisoned the mages' souls?
It was frustrating since they didn't seem like beings one could communicate with.
Damian didn't wait any longer and swung his sword through the air. Suddenly intense light burst forth and a sword wave rushed at the phantasmal beast.
The sword wave completely shattered the snake's head.
KWANG!
Shattered flesh scattered everywhere with blood.
Damian remained tense. The phantasmal beast still held its body upright despite its head being blown away.
The water in the black lake behind the beast began churning. This gradually became a whirlpool, climbing up the beast's body and beginning to condense.
And its head began regenerating.
Damian bit his lip. If the opponent's ability was regeneration, Damian was at a disadvantage. He was only allowed very brief moments to summon his sword.
Indeed, this wouldn't be an easy opponent to defeat.
Moving skeletons began surrounding Damian.
He couldn't deal with the skeletons while needing to focus all his power on the phantasmal beast.
But they were too disturbing to just ignore.
The group occasionally muttered words from when they were once human while chanting Bibi's name.
[When is mother coming?]
[I have an unfinished book.]
[I left behind my sick, elderly mother.]
They were all souls who couldn't leave Barbisia and became the phantasmal beast's slaves.
Damian struck away the skeletons grabbed him and shot another sword wave at the beast.
With a tremendous explosion, the beast's body was split in two. And the lake water was drawn in again, beginning to restore the beast's body.
It recovered its body faster than before and submerged itself into the swamp as if it were diving.
"...Damn."
The phantasmal beast began swimming through the swamp like a loach. Having disappeared from view, it was difficult to predict when and where it would ambush, on top of it being impossible to land a direct hit on it.
He focused on ground vibrations while dealing with the skeletons.
Then without any chance to react, a tail suddenly sprang from the swamp and struck Damian directly. His body flew up and crashed down twenty paces away.
And as Damian rose, a massive snake maw burst from below, trying to swallow him whole. He twisted his entire body to dodge sideways and immediately swung his sword to cut off its head.
Again, lake water was sucked in and instantly restored its body.
Before restoration was even complete, it used its long body to launch another unpredictable attack, and Damian had to take it helplessly.
The method of attack was unclear.
Damian spat out blood-mixed saliva and quickly moved to solid ground, then pressed his ear to the ground to focus on the sound of the phantasmal beast's movement.
And there he heard a strange sound.
[Uwaaaaaaaah!!]
Not the sound of a snake moving, but suddenly a man's scream. Had he mistaken it due to the urgent situation? The same sound was heard when he pressed his ear again.
Endless desperate screams rang out, like someone burning alive.
He couldn't understand how such vibrations were spreading through the ground.
Then came the beast's merciless ambush. Damian quickly responded by shooting a sword wave at its upper body, shattering it to pieces.
Sensing something strange, Damian immediately began running toward the black lake.
The skeletons' movements became faster and more agile as they tried to catch him.
The frequency of the beast's ambushes from underground also became drastically shorter.
A snake tail sprang out like a trap at Damian's feet, striking him like a club.
Hit by this, Damian flew sideways back to his starting point. He took out all his frost wind bombs from his pocket and detonated them in a line.
The bombs created a chain explosion, freezing the path to the lake as solid as rock. Damian immediately began running across it.
The phantasmal beast emerged above ground and tried to break the frozen path. But because it had to make large movements, it had to take Damian's sword wave head-on.
He repeatedly killed the beast and finally reached his destination. As soon as he reached the lake, he dove in without hesitation.
Submerged inside, he could hear the man's screams more clearly. As he had suspected.
Strange things passed before his eyes. Countless ghosts were swimming in the lake. It was as if the lake itself was an essence concentrated with souls.
Dozens of urns lay at the bottom of the lake. And the screams were coming from those urns.
Something grabbed Damian's ankle. It was the work of animated skeletons.
The increasing resistance made him sense that the souls contained in those urns were important. Damian immediately released a sword wave.
With a powerful shockwave, the lake bottom was completely devastated.
And Damian was swept out of the lake by the current along with the skeletons.
"Kwaaaak!"
On land, the phantasmal beast was screaming and writhing. And from its body, black masses of souls were escaping and evaporating into the sky.
Perhaps it had been continuously regenerating its body by consuming souls.
Damian swept back his hair and took a deep breath.
And launched one final sword wave that burst open the center of the beast's body.
Flesh and bone shattered and scattered everywhere. And after writhing with its bisected body, it finally fell silent.
It was over.
With the beast's death, the animated skeletons returned to being meaningless bone fragments.
Damian pulled himself completely out of the water and collapsed on the ground.
Then muttered to himself, "Ah, I won't be able to eat snake meat anymore."
***
The blackened sky began clearing. It was a clear blue sky like one might see at a Principality resort. Fresh wind. And somewhere, birdsong could be heard.
Had they crossed into another dimension? The ominous energy covering this land had disappeared.
Bibi, hiding under a rock, looked up at the sky and sensed everything was over.
And simultaneously remembered Damian, whom she'd left behind.
"Damian, Damian!"
The blue deer, as if understanding Bibi's words, approached her and lowered its body. Bibi quickly mounted its back and grabbed its antlers.
The deer began running at high speed toward the lake where Damian had been.
She tightly gripped the newly woven rope and prayed more desperately than she ever had before.
"Please... please..."
She prayed for the man’s safety.
The black lakeside they had seen before was in complete chaos, as if heaven and earth had been overturned. Nearby trees had been completely swept away, and the ground was deeply pitted.
Dozens of skeletons laid scattered like beasts' discarded meals.
And the basilisk's corpse stretched out like a wall blocking the path. The battle was over.
Seeing the site of the fierce battle made her heart sink.
The deer slowly moved around the path. Bibi bit her lip while looking around, and too anxious to wait, dismounted from the deer.
"Damian, Damian!"
Forgetting all dignity, she called out urgently as if searching for family.
She pushed with all her might at the giant snake's mouth but couldn't budge it.
"If he's somehow alive inside...!"
She could even crawl into the basilisk's stomach to find him.
Then the blue deer, as if discovering something, ran past Bibi somewhere.
Beyond where the deer headed, a human figure was visible. Someone was sitting against a tree stump with its upper part torn away.
Bibi hurriedly approached him.
Though worried he might be dead, thankfully he was breathing. Though his body reeked of something rotting, she paid no mind.
Bibi quickly crouched before him and wiped the stains from his face. And Damian slowly opened his eyes as if waking from sweet sleep.
Seeing this, she burst into nervous laughter. And tears welled up in her eyes without her realizing.
"You... are the bravest knight I've encountered in my life."
He blinked slowly as if sleepy and said, "Perfect weather for a picnic, isn't it?"
Bibi examined Damian's body thoroughly. There were some noticeable wounds, but his limbs were intact.
Bibi smiled in relief at Damian's nonsensical words.
"...Yes. Perfectly clear."
"Now that it's all over, I'd like to rest by a quiet, clean lakeside."
"Good idea. When we return to the Principality... let's do it together."
"We'll spread out a mat too."
"I won't mind if you use the palace's silk carpets. If not that, I'll even cut up my dress to make one."
"We need Sankrotis-style apple pie too."
"That's something I like too."
"...Our only common point, Your Grace."
"I've already found several common points, yet you've only found one—how disappointing."
Then Bibi pulled Damian's left hand and began busily weaving rope.
Seeing this, Damian said with a puzzled expression, "Isn't everything over now?"
With the source of hallucinations removed, there was no need to keep him tied anymore.
"...I'm anxious because I never know what you might do."
"Where could I go in this condition?"
"Who knows? Just... stay within my sight."
When he gave her an uncomprehending look, Bibi shyly avoided his gaze. Then carefully wove the other end of the rope around her own wrist.
Though they had caught the phantasmal beast, that wasn't the end of everything. Because Barbisia's territory was so vast, Damian and Bibi had to drift for three more days.
And on the third day, when contact with the guard was lost, they were finally discovered by the Principality's search party that had been dispatched, and at last headed toward the Principality.