Chapter 145

"Now! Human!"

The seemingly normal stone floor instantly froze over like the northern snowfields.

While the tentacles were restrained by the ice that hindered their movement, sharp sword strikes cut through the bumpy muscles layered countless times.

Heavy tentacles fell to the floor and writhed, and the mucus that burst in all directions stuck to the walls and dripped stickily.

It was a scene anyone would find repulsive.

However, Leandros approached the convulsing demonic beast on the floor without any change in his expression and cut through the center of the tentacles.

Inside, there was a fist-sized red heart beating vigorously, attached as if fused with the tentacles.

The snowman within Leandros's embrace saw the heart and said.

"Not long ago. Human heart. Right?"

"Indeed. Seeing it's not transformed, it hatched recently."

As he exerted force with his hand, the heart in his grip crumbled without even a single sound.

Simultaneously, the heaving tentacles ceased their struggle and fell silent.

After dusting off his soiled hands and standing up, Leandros asked.

"Is it still far to where His Grace is?"

"Worshipper, nearby. This is right. Soon."

According to the snowman's guidance, Leandros, who had plunged from the square into the village, encountered monsters several times.

It was fortunate the snowman was there. Otherwise, it could have been a difficult battle.

'Facing monsters without any knowledge is not a good strategy.'

What deity's attendant was it again?

The blessing bestowed by the attendant rightfully should have gone to Duke Arenheit.

But His Grace had given up the blessing for him.

Leandros did not yet know what the cost of receiving the blessing was, but he understood that His Grace greatly cared for him.

Just like his mother, the former duchess, had.

Therefore, protecting and safeguarding His Grace was his duty, one he must not violate.

As if sensing Leandros's impatience, the snowman pointed to one of the paths.

"This way. Human. Go this way."

Leandros followed the snowman's instructions without argument.

As he walked quickly, on guard for his surroundings, Leandros suddenly raised his head and sniffed.

"I smell burning."

"Human. The great me. No nose. Joking?"

"Are we really going the right way?"

"Ignoring me? Joking?"

He had a bad feeling about this.

As Leandros turned the bent road, he discovered black smoke spreading through the night sky.

The source of that smoke was within this block.

In the direction the snowman had pointed.

This is truly maddening.

His footsteps gradually quickened with urgency.

Finally, he found the Duke he had been searching for.

But,

The burning inn and the fire that was spreading larger,

People fleeing or sitting down with lumps all over their bodies.

Monsters wielding pale tentacles.

Amelia holding a burning chair leg and a frightened Verde standing in front of them.

Behind them, Arenheit standing with an open book that was uniquely red like blood.

As the acrid, hot air enveloped the street, hair the color of flames fluttered.

Through the heat haze, their eyes met.

Arenheit's eyes widened, and his lips moved slightly.

Leandros was certain it was his name.

So without a moment's hesitation, he ran with his cold sword.

* * *

A protagonist always rushes toward the supporting character in danger.

And Leandros, the protagonist of this story, did not deviate from that rule.

As Leandros touched the ground, frost spread in a white path.

Ice quickly spread over the tentacles on that path, and the glistening tentacles froze smoothly.

When the muscular tentacles instantly became heavy stone-like objects, the "Child of Shub-Niggurath" swung the tentacles that had not frozen.

A tentacle as thick as a forearm wrapped around Leandros's sword.

But as soon as he abandoned his sword, the white blade melted away without a trace in an instant.

Immediately forging a new ice sword, Leandros leaped into the air.

The force of the tentacles targeting the airborne target was fierce, but Leandros moved as if he had anticipated those movements.

Nimble, without any excess.

Each time he swung his sword, thin ice fragments scattered sparkling into the hot air.

The flames reflected off the scattering ice fragments.

It was a scene so beautiful it could bewitch anyone who let their guard down for even a moment.

But he couldn't afford to lose his focus.

Now was the opportunity, while Leandros diverted his attention to fight the demonic beast.

"What are you all doing, run away! Unless you want to burn to death here, go quickly!"

He shouted at the people who were still sitting down.

Only then, as if coming to their senses, the people who had been flinching fled from the flames when a burning sign fell in front of them.

Next were Amelia and Verde.

"Miss Amelia, as you would have heard earlier, there seem to be people still hiding in the houses. Everyone needs to be evacuated."

"I-I'll do that. I'll g-get them outside as q-quickly as possible."

"Verde, go with Amelia. Evacuating people out of the village comes first."

"Me? Me too? Together? With this woman, just the two of us rescuing people? We might die a dog's death wandering around here! I absolutely refuse!"

"H-how dare you be s-so impertinent when His G-Grace is speaking..."

"True, staying with Leandros might increase the probability of saving your lives."

After all, he was the protagonist, and the best fighter among them.

He understood why Verde wanted to stay near Leandros.

But you know.

"From now on, Sir Leandros and I are going to kill demonic beasts. If you'd like to be surrounded by a group of more than ten tentacled demonic beasts, I won't stop you-"

"Saving the poor villagers is a physician's duty! Since it's come to this, let's quickly escape the village!"

Yes, that's more likely to be safe.

He watched as Verde, whose eyes had grown triangular, dragged away Amelia.

Meanwhile, Leandros was driving back the Child of Shub-Niggurath, whose tentacles were almost completely frozen and immobilized.

It tore at Leandros's cloak with drooling teeth, and with the sound of tearing cloth, a long ice sword was plunged into its head.

A bursting sound was heard.

"Sir Leandros!"

"Your Grace, are you unharmed?"

"Worshipper! Disrespectful! Ran away leaving me! Worshipper!"

The snowman that had been attached to the strap of Leandros's leather breastplate fell off, struggling.

When he picked up the snowman that had approached by rolling on the ground and toddling, the snowman shed frozen tears profusely.

"Helped worshipper in Dreamland! But worshipper disappeared! Left me alone! Smells! Smells like rat too! Worshipper! Abandoned me? Ungrateful? Doing well without me! Fired! Fired!"

"Calm down, there's a reason for this. I'll explain everything later."

These were the lines of a lost child finding their guardian.

While patting the snowman that had climbed onto his shoulder, spilling ice, Leandros looked at it with incredulous eyes, and he complimented him.

"You worked hard to get here."

"I'm glad you don't seem to be injured. That snowman said you and the two others were trapped in the square."

"The timing was bad. It seems they were using an artifact powered by people to separate the village center from the outskirts. We were caught for that purpose. Over there..."

"They're moving as a group. I don't know what they're trying to do, but they were keeping ground-up gray eggs called buds."

"Powder?"

He gradually began to understand.

People who chose to become demonic beasts would touch the eggs directly.

But the people here showed no signs of doing so, so they were being made to contact the eggs in some way.

It seemed that turning them into powder and making contact with them was also effective.

Now he understood how the person wrapped in a shawl earlier had infected five or six people around them all at once.

"There's no one to control the artifact right now. Demonic beasts might spread outside the village at this rate."

"Can it be classified as a demonic beast?"

"They're called the Children of Shub-Niggurath. Children of the goddess who governs malevolent abundance. Strictly speaking, probably one of her many children."

For a moment, a perplexed light crossed Leandros's face.

"Shub-Niggurath, you say."

"We don't have time for this here. Even now, demonic beasts are still hatching! When there are many children, the mother tends to come. We need to take measures before-"

-Ding.

Through the acrid smoke, a bell sound was heard.

Not the majestic sound of a bell tower moving, but a chillingly clear and beautiful sound.

The bell sound added one by one, eventually becoming as majestic as thousands of glass bells ringing at once.

We momentarily stopped talking at the emotional sound that was out of place in the situation.

The snowman that had sat on his shoulder quietly said.

"She came. Heard children's prayers. She came. Worshipper. Be careful. Flee."

She, Shub-Niggurath.

The mother goddess who came upon hearing the silent cries of children not born from her womb as they were slaughtered.

As soon as Leandros heard the snowman's words, he grabbed his wrist and began running quickly, turning his back on the burning street.

"Leandros!"

"We can't face it right now. Isn't it a being fundamentally different from what we've fought so far?"

"That's right. But are we going to flee like this? Abandoning this place?"

"It's better than being buried in the collapsing ashes of fire."

"Have you forgotten the condition set by Crown Prince Yurik?"

"He said to win people's hearts, Your Grace. But no one will survive. There's no need to win the hearts of humans who have turned into monsters."

"No, there are people."

Leandros did not answer and only kept running.

Perhaps it was because he had inhaled some smoke while standing on the roadside earlier, but his breath kept rising, causing coughing and rapid breathing simultaneously.

"That's why I sent Amelia and Verde ahead! Because if there are people left, they can be saved!"

"Then what about 'her'? How do you intend to handle her?"

"That's why you're here."

He finally twisted his hand free from Leandros.

Leandros turned to look at him.

"That's reckless. It's impossible to kill a deity."

"But if it has a form, we can make it retreat, even if just for a moment. Buying time is our victory."

"I've never heard of repelling a deity with physical form."

He knew of someone who had killed a deity with physical form.

Though he hadn't appeared in this iteration, he retained the memory of the deity slaying alongside him.

This place didn't have the unique environmental conditions of a story based on legend, like the north back then.

But now, they held the perfect key to kill a deity.

"Yes, the killing of a deity by a human doesn't appear in any forbidden book."

"Then if we hurry and escape from here..."

Though Leandros hurriedly spoke,

He took the snowman sitting on his shoulder and placed it on the ground.

The snowman looked up at him.

Looking down at it, he continued.

"But a deity can kill another deity."