Chapter 67: The Abomination’s Trial

Abomination.

A monster known as the worst creature in existence appeared before my eyes.

I called it an Abomination, but that wasn’t a description of how it looked—just a rough way to express its form.

The appearance of the Abomination before my eyes was simply horrific.

It was about 300 in size, and astonishingly, its body seemed to be made by haphazardly bundling together various monsters.

From what you might call its body, from its head down to its feet, things were sticking out here and there. Looking closely, I could see monster heads, arms, legs as a given, and even some tails poking out.

Its body was steadily spewing blood.

Usually, Abominations are infamous for exuding poisonous fumes from their bodies.

But the Abomination in front of me, instead of poison, was steadily oozing blood.

Of course, maybe because the blood had a slightly acidic quality, the nearby stalactites and stalagmites beside the Abomination were slowly melting away.

The Abomination had two hands, and surprisingly, it was holding something like a huge butcher’s knife in one hand. That cleaver was plastered with scraps of flesh, and even now, drops of blood were dripping down from it.

Swayne, a high-ranking member of the Dark Order and a renowned black Mage, looked at the Abomination and finally spoke.

“Isn’t it cute? When I first brought it here, it was just a small Core. After devouring a few monsters, it grew this much. Among black magic, this is quite a high-level spell and requires a lot of sacrifice, but as you can see, it’s reliable enough, so there’s no problem, don’t you think?”

Those sacrifices must be people, right?”

“That’s right. There are plenty of people out there who are worse trash than us. Trash like fathers who constantly abuse their families, or thieves, rapists, and so on. It was hard to collect trash, but I experimented on people the world absolutely didn’t need. And as you can see, I succeeded.”

I just listened to what he said.

“Perhaps, when the Demonic Lord descends upon the world, countless humans will die, and the world itself will be destroyed. Even knowing that, do you know why we still try to summon the Demonic Lord?”

I don’t know.

“Even without the Demonic Lord, the world will end up destroyed anyway. Human greed knows no bounds.”

At those words, I unconsciously responded.

“We repeat the same mistakes over and over.”

“Exactly.”

Swayne smiled in satisfaction at my reply. Even though he was laughing heartily, the metallic clang in his voice somehow grated on my nerves.

“It’s been quite satisfying to have a conversation with you. I’m truly enjoying this.”

He spoke as if he genuinely liked me.

“To my eyes, you’re a Five Circle Mage. Strangely enough, you don’t seem to have that much mana, though. Which means you must have considerable talent.”

The spot where his eyes, which had been faintly glowing red, were located now shone with an intense light.

“Have you ever thought about joining our Dark Order? I hold quite a high position here. If you come, I can elevate you to a high Rank. I can offer you plenty of money and women, too.”

Honestly, I was a little tempted.

I wouldn’t have to manage a territory, and if they’re offering money and women, what’s not to like?

Of course, they’d surely give me tasks to do. Who knows how difficult and dangerous those might be?

“No, obviously, it would be difficult.”

The Dark Order, of all things. Not even the Sacred Order, but the Dark Order.

I was still clueless about the overall political situation on the continent. To be precise, I didn’t really know anything.

But honestly, the Dark Order? Darkness. Isn’t it normal for such a group to be rejected?

Though I was slightly shaken, of course, it was best to refuse.

“I think you already know my answer.”

“Well, considering our objectives, it’s natural for you to refuse. Besides, the world is against us, after all.”

Swayne spoke as if disappointed. Then, alternating his gaze between me and the Abomination, he snapped his finger bones.

“Very well! I’ll give you one last chance. If you defeat this creature, I’ll spare your life. If you die, that’s the end of it.”

“Do you really think I’ll lose?”

“Every Five Circle Mage I know would die here, without question.”

“All right. I accept your proposal.”

I accepted the proposal.

Then I raised my sword in front of me.

“That might be a useless act of desperation. Unless it’s a Holy Sword, a crude blade like that won’t even scratch it. You’d be better off using magic. Just a piece of advice, since it’d be a waste for you.”

I didn’t respond to that. Instead, I focused solely on the Abomination.

“Hmph. Perhaps you’re just a fool. Well, we’ll see the result soon enough. Do your best.”

With that, Swayne stepped back.

He passed through the Abomination and moved deeper into the cave, leaving only me and the Abomination behind.

“U-uohr-urrrrgh!”

The Abomination let out an unintelligible howl—I couldn’t understand a single word. But one thing was clear.

“Well then, let’s see who wins.”

The creature radiated a thick killing intent toward me, and I prepared to face it head-on.

I steeled myself, racking my brain for an opening to begin my attack.

A Quest has been generated.

[Eliminate the Abomination, the monstrous lifeform created by the Dark Order]

-Rank: S

-Objective: Kill the Abomination, the Dark Order’s test model. Secure the Core and deliver it to the Sacred Order in the Imperial Capital.

-Goal: Defeat the Abomination. Secure the Core.

-Time limit: Before Swayne returns.

-Reward: A Relic needed by the Sacred Order.

“Oh ho!”

I discovered something quite interesting about this new Quest.

“So the reward isn’t for me, but a Relic needed by the Sacred Order. Does that mean it’ll let me easily contact the Sacred Order?”

What kind of place is the Sacred Order?

They exist not only in the continent’s great capital, but are also present in every major strategic point, and everyone across the Creseria Continent holds deep faith in them.

To come in contact with such a place—plus, I’d be obtaining a needed Relic for them. That’s an incredible opportunity.

“The problem is that I have to kill the Abomination first.”

The Quest Rank is S.

That means it’s incredibly difficult. But if I can overcome this, the reward will be tremendous.

“Let’s do it.”

I steeled myself and prepared once more.

I circulated aura throughout my body, enhancing my physique.

“Strength.”

On top of that, a Strength-boosting skill.

“Haste.”

A skill to make up for my lack of agility.

“Fire Cannon.”

And a powerful skill to announce the start of my onslaught.

Since Fire Cannon is a Five Circle Mage spell, it took a bit of time to prepare, but the Abomination simply glared at me with murderous intent without making the first move.

Because of that, I had plenty of time. Once my skill was ready, I unleashed Fire Cannon at the Abomination.

Fwoooosh! Bang!

A beam of flame burst from my hand. The glaring blaze struck the Abomination’s body, causing a massive explosion.

“Uooorrrrgh!”

The explosion of flames seemed to engulf the Abomination.

Boom, boom.

But the fire quickly died down.

The Abomination swung its massive arm, and an incredible gust snuffed out the flames.

The part that took the full brunt of the blast was severely burned, but the rest was only slightly scorched—that was all.

“Haah.”

But that was within my expectations.

My goal was to maximize my powerful skills and combine them with swordsmanship.

I dashed forward, charging at the Abomination.

Ough!

The Abomination’s enormous cleaver swung straight down at me.

It was coming down right where I was running, and at that timing, I was in perfect position to be struck.

“Tch. Dash.”

I moved swiftly, dodging to the side with Skill: Dash.

Crash!

The massive cleaver struck right where I’d been standing.

Surprisingly, the blade left a sharp gash as it dug into the ground.

I expected a cloud of dust to rise and everything to be a mess, but that wasn’t the case.

The Abomination’s attacks were clean and precise, and its reaction speed was astonishingly fast.

Whoosh.

The creature immediately raised its cleaver again, swinging it horizontally at me.

“Whoa!”

I quickly jumped in response.

Whoosh.

The blade narrowly missed beneath my feet. The force was so great that, even in midair, the cleaver’s wind pressure shook me slightly.

In that moment, the Abomination spun around and once again swung its cleaver horizontally toward me.

“Dash! Dash!”

I quickly used Dash to escape from the spot. But I wasn’t just going to dodge.

“Gale Thrust!”

Charging at the Abomination, I thrust my sword straight at it.

Clang!

My sword dug deep into the Abomination’s flesh.

Since it was a sword infused with aura, there was no problem.

“Uwoeeeh!”

The Abomination let out a scream at my attack.

Satisfied that my attack worked, I gave a slight smile and tried to pull my sword out.

Umm…

The problem was, the sword wouldn’t come out. I tried with all my might, but instead, the sword was gradually being sucked deeper into the Abomination’s body.

“Damn it?”

I gave up on pulling out the sword and quickly retreated.

The Abomination reached out its free hand toward me. I had spent too much time trying to retrieve my sword, so I was in danger of getting caught.

“Blink.”

Luckily, I had a skill to escape on the spot, so I managed to get away.

Thud. Smack!

The spot where I’d just been—Abomination’s hand landed there. The creature clenched its fist tightly.

In that process, a massive amount of blood gushed from the Abomination’s hand, soaking the floor.

I hurriedly pulled another sword from my Inventory.

Since I only had one Longsword, this time I drew my Bastard Sword.

It was a sword I’d been practicing with lately, as it could be used one-handed but also wielded two-handedly.

Holding the Bastard Sword in one hand, I quickly prepared more skills with the other.

“Fireball.”

While Fireball cut through the air toward the Abomination, I kept closing the distance and continued to unleash more skills.

“Fire Spear. Magic Missile. Wind Spear. Fire Bolt.”

I focused on using the most powerful skills I knew.

As I rapidly fired spells and closed in on the creature, I watched for the effects of my skills—but my face involuntarily twisted into a frown.

“Do Circle spells not even leave a scratch?”

At least the first spell, Fireball, which was close to level 14, seemed somewhat effective.

At this rate, things were getting pretty tough for me.

“Wow, I thought a few high Circle spells would be enough, but this is crazy. I’m going to need a lot more money.”

Even in this situation, where I had to take down the Abomination and survive, my mind was naturally worrying about money first.

What a ridiculous guy I am, I thought to myself.