Slaughter

"Ah!"

"Watch out behind me, I... argh!"

Morning should have been a beautiful time when all things awakened, but in Arlong's Territory, it had become a damned nightmare.

One frenzied zombie after another relied on their fearlessness of death to surround the fish-men.

In the distance, Nojiko and Kensuke, who had noticed the scene, lay beneath the bushes with faces full of disbelief and terror.

The terrifying beings they remembered as powerful and inhuman were now being effortlessly slaughtered by corpses like helpless chicks.

The sheer horror of those corpses made their limbs turn cold.

"Get farther back. Don't let them see us."

Kensuke swallowed and crawled backward along the bushes.

But then, he discovered that instead of retreating, Nojiko was crawling forward in a low crouch toward the other side. His pupils contracted at once.

"Nojiko, what are you doing?!"

Kensuke shouted anxiously in a lowered voice.

"They're all at the front gate. There shouldn't be anyone at the back."

There was fear on Nojiko's face, but even more determination.

"I'll use this chance to get Nami out."

Anyone could see that the black-robed young man with an extraordinary bearing wanted to wipe out the Arlong Pirates.

Nami had been forced to join them only to protect them, but would he really take that into consideration?

If they did not rescue Nami now, then once Arlong was killed or escaped, Nami would have no chance of getting away.

"You..."

That was far too bold!

Kensuke was speechless.

The dead and the fish-men alone were terrifying enough. Trying to risk their lives to save someone now was practically suicide!

Someone grabbed her wrist, and Nojiko turned back in surprise.

Kensuke took a deep breath and said, "I'll go first... You don't want Nami to lose her last remaining family member too, do you?"

"But..."

Nojiko opened her mouth anxiously.

"Listen to me. There's nothing to discuss."

With that, ignoring Nojiko's struggle, Kensuke lowered himself and crawled cautiously toward the back gate of Arlong's Territory, doing his best to avoid the battle raging outside.

Bellemere, I promised you I'd protect them!

Looking at the brutal slaughter ahead, Kensuke's limbs were weak with fear, but he still pressed forward resolutely.

Fish-Man Karate: Collarbone Lock!

Bang!!

Stainless-steel cat claws stabbed toward him, and the two of them tensed their muscles and unleashed tremendous strength.

Seeing Kuroobi's arm twist slightly, bending at an angle no normal person could achieve as he locked Black Knight's arm beneath his abdomen, Black Knight's dull intelligence left it wondering whether this guy was Undead too.

Outwardly, Black Knight merely tilted its head very calmly.

"Heh! Never seen anything like it, have you? I'm a cartilaginous fish-man!"

Taking Black Knight's reaction as provocation, Kuroobi roared and held both arms flat, flinging him high into the air.

"Finally got you, monster!"

With that, Kuroobi leaped up as well. His sturdy arms slipped beneath Black Knight's armpits and locked his shoulder joints, and the two spun rapidly head to head as they plummeted downward.

Fish-Man Karate: Front Lotus!

Oh, he wants to break my bones!

Black Knight immediately understood. Its intelligence might have been gone, but its combat instincts remained.

With a fish-man's explosive strength, if that attack landed solidly, it would be enough to fracture his bones and tear his muscles.

And once his bones were damaged and his speed dropped, he would enter a vicious cycle.

He tried moving his arm, but could not break free.

The gap in strength between him and Kuroobi was not great. He merely lacked explosive power. Technique existed to control every ounce of strength in the body, and Kuroobi, who had mastered Fish-Man Karate, was clearly far superior to Black Knight in that regard.

Then...

Just as they were about to hit the ground, two uneven lumps of flesh suddenly bulged from Black Knight's left and right shoulder blades and shot outward.

Rip!

A piercing pain struck Kuroobi's heart, making his tensed muscles tremble involuntarily.

He twisted his head around, his eyes filled with disbelief.

"Kōbi, Moro!"

The two skulls opened their mouths and bit deeply into his shoulders from either side. Even with only skin clinging to bone, Kuroobi would never forget those faces.

He had expected his comrades to meet with misfortune, but he had never imagined that even their corpses would be used by the enemy.

"You... all have to die!"

With bloodshot eyes, Kuroobi gritted his teeth and clutched Black Knight tightly, his fingers digging into flesh as veins bulged across his body.

But with the muscles in his shoulders bitten to pieces, his strength was no longer comparable to before.

Crash!

Seizing the opportunity, Black Knight extended even more bones from its back.

Pale bones intertwined and assembled into two enormous skeletal wings with hooked claws, which suddenly latched onto the tree trunk.

Screech!!

Amid a piercing tearing sound, their speed plummeted. They gouged through the trunk all the way until they came to a stop.

"It actually stopped?"

Kuroobi's eyes were full of disbelief. In the middle of that momentum-driven fall, his opponent had actually stopped them!

Black Knight did not fare well either. Cracks split across the main radius bones of the skeletal wings, while the relatively fragile wrist and finger bones were flung away outright as they scraped against the wood chips.

Any living creature suffering injuries like that would probably lose its fighting strength on the spot.

But he was dead.

The dead could not feel pain. They could squeeze their bodies without limit and unleash power the living could never achieve.

Creak, creak!

The flesh of his chest cavity flipped outward, and eight ribs spread open, four on each side, nailing into the tree trunk like spider legs to support his body.

Kuroobi was horrified. Black Knight had twisted into a spider-like, human-faced evil ghost, crouching atop the tree.

That savage, absurd, bizarre form carried a different kind of killing intent that made one's scalp tingle.

"M-Monster!"

Splat!!

If you can't find a book by its title, try searching for the author. It may have simply been renamed!

"Interesting! It actually forced out a newly modified form?"

Sensing the changes in Black Knight through his Mental Power, Lowett's expression remained calm.

After learning the fish-men's body structure, he had processed all four corpses into materials for Black Knight. It would have been strange if its form had not been drastically altered.

Undead creatures had their advantages. Any parts could be used as parts; they were not picky at all, making them much easier to raise than pets.

"I've gathered enough data on Arlong's body as well, so... let's end this."

Just as he thought that, Arlong leaped high from the top floor of Arlong's Territory, smashing through the roof tiles and bringing a spray of blood with him.

Arlong might have been interested in running, but Lowett had no interest in chasing him.

Undead beasts like the Soul Chasing Beast, which existed somewhere between reality and illusion, loved stripping souls from the living. Once it locked onto someone and remembered their Soul Aura, they would not be able to shake it off even if they fled to the New World.

"Finally caught you, little thing!"

Gritting his teeth, Arlong tore the black beast from his thigh. His eyes gleamed with beastly savagery as he opened his mouth and bit down hard.

"Didn't you want to eat me? Huh?!"

"Now let's see who eats whom?!"

The ferocity in his eyes surged as Arlong tore the Soul Chasing Beast apart bit by bit, chewing it to pieces and swallowing it.

"Hiss... hiss!!"

Being eaten alive, the Soul Chasing Beast let out wave after wave of miserable screams, its arms flailing wildly.

The taste was not disgusting. It was actually bland, like chewing wax.

Lowett recalled the past and raised his palm.

Curse Magic: Pain Curse!

As its name suggested, Pain Curse caused pain.

Another classic spell often handled through brute force.

Although Lowett disliked how slowly Curse Magic took effect, he had to admit that among the five major specializations of the Necromancy School, Curse Magic was the most convenient type.

Noticing Lowett's movement, Arlong's pupils shrank.

"Damn!"

He had been too focused on outwitting that little beast and had actually let down his guard.

"But from this distance, he shouldn't be able to hit me, right?"

Previously, even when they had faced each other from less than ten meters apart, there had been a delay before the attack struck. Now that they were separated by the height of an entire building, could he really strike from so far away?

In fact, he had guessed correctly.

Casting spells was limited not only by a mage's knowledge and Mental Power, but more importantly by the Spell circuit.

Different spells had different "combinations" of patterns, and the circuits woven by those combinations determined a spell's power, casting range, and even the target's resistance to it.

Blood Plague Raven could not hit him from nearly a hundred meters away.

But Pain Curse could.

The effective range of this spell was determined by how far the mage's Mental Power could extend, which was also the norm for most Curse Magic.

And... it had no spell trajectory.

"Not good!"

In midair, Arlong's pupils shrank. He felt that ominous palpitation again, but this time the threat did not come from Lowett's direction. It came from all around him!

In other words, he could not dodge!

"AAAH!!!"

It sounded slow, but it all happened in an instant. One second later, Arlong let out a heart-rending scream and fell freely.

Thud!

His body slammed heavily into the ridge of a tall building, rolling all the way down before crashing into the ground with a "boom," kicking up a ring of dust.

"Argh!!!"

The impact left him dizzy, but the agony immediately forced him awake.

Blood foam sprayed from his mouth as Arlong dropped to his knees. His arms drew in tightly against his sides, veins bulging all over his body as though he were suffering some indescribable torment, his muscles twitching.

"Not bad willpower."

Standing beside a stone pillar, Lowett clapped softly. "An ordinary person would at least pass out instantly from that, perhaps even die on the spot."

"And yet you endured it?"

"I..."

Arlong turned back with bloodshot eyes.

"Fuck you!!!"

Consumed by piercing pain, Arlong rose like a madman and charged again.

"This is the power of magic!"

Unmoved by Arlong's surprise attack, Lowett asked calmly, "So now, do you think I'm qualified to discuss this subject with you?"

"Die!!!"

Arlong's murderous roar was the only answer.

His dagger-sharp nose easily pierced through the clothing and punched out through Lowett's back.

But Arlong felt no joy, because he discovered that not a single drop of blood flowed from the wound.

"This is fake!"

"Correct."

A relaxed smile hung on the lips of the "Lowett" whose chest had been pierced. Then, beginning at the wound, his body slowly broke apart as ravens struggled free one by one and flapped their wings into the sky.

With a soft pop, he scattered into a flock of ravens filling the sky.

Crack!

The massive impact did not lose momentum, splitting the concrete pillar at the original spot in half. Arlong staggered, then whipped around.

"Bone Dissolution—Blood Coagulation—Corruption—Erosion!"

Lowett appeared behind Arlong and raised his right hand.

Arlong had managed to endure his pursuit for so long entirely because of his beast-like instincts.

But no matter how strong those instincts were, they still needed a body to support them.

In that case, why not destroy the body?!

Combination Magic: Limb Dissolution!

Thanks to reader ~Three Kingdoms Strategist Jia Xu 2~ for the 500 reward. Thank you for your support!

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