Chapter 20

Woojin tightened his grip on the machete and glared at the two abominations.

They wore torn clothing, as though clumsily imitating human beings.

The way the clothes were ripped unsettled him. The shirt buttons had all burst open, as if someone had tried—and failed—to force small garments onto bloated bodies.

…An unpleasant premonition brushed across his mind.

'Don't tell me… those two are Derek and Cedric.'

He glanced sideways at Raymond. The vacant look on the holy knight's face told him his guess was correct.

If that was the case, then the commission had already failed.

Grrk, grrk—

The abominations began walking toward them.

Their hands groped through the air, searching for prey. Judging by their movements, they were trying to locate whoever had caused the commotion outside the tent.

Just then, the mercenaries who had been chasing the tarasque arrived. One of them saw the creatures and his eyes widened.

"…What the hell are those bastards?"

Both abominations turned their heads at the same time.

The mercenary who had spoken found himself staring into hollow eye sockets. His heart lurched. There were no eyeballs—yet it felt as though they were looking straight at him.

They had no eyes, but their hearing was intact.

After letting out a guttural howl, they charged directly toward the mercenary's position.

Woojin sighed.

'Looks like I'll have to work for it.'

He moved behind the two creatures. One of them was slightly larger, and because of its bulk, it ran a bit slower, lagging behind.

The bigger one would be the older brother, the smaller the younger. Maybe not—but either way, from now on, this one was Derek.

Having reached that arbitrary conclusion, Woojin swung his machete with full force.

The blade sliced cleanly through Derek's thigh.

A burst of dark red blood exploded outward, and one leg was severed neatly from the body.

Derek didn't seem to notice. He stepped forward with the leg that was no longer there.

His body tilted.

Thud!!

Derek's massive form crashed face-first into the dirt.

Woojin leapt onto his back and brought the machete down repeatedly. Like hacking at stone with a pickaxe, he battered the creature's torso again and again.

Raymond wasn't standing idle either.

He was locked in a whirling dance of blades against Cedric. Though the creature was too much for him alone, the mercenaries and squires had gathered and were assisting, gradually driving Cedric back.

At a glance, it looked advantageous.

But killing an abomination was another matter entirely.

Crack—

A strange sound came from Derek's shoulder.

Sensing danger, Woojin retreated without hesitation.

In the next instant, the creature's shoulder joint popped out of place, and its arm swung in a grotesque arc, lashing at the spot where Woojin had just been.

Derek pushed himself upright.

His body was carved with countless blade wounds—but the flesh flowed and sagged, slowly sealing them. Even the leg that had been cut off was already restored.

It was like fighting a giant doll made of mud.

This was exactly why Woojin hated dealing with abominations. You couldn't kill them by simply cutting and stabbing.

'I didn't break the core.'

Somewhere within the body lay an inner core. Only by destroying it could an abomination truly be killed.

Finding it was practically a matter of luck.

Woojin had carved into Derek's torso several times, yet he had failed to locate the core.

Unfortunate—but fine.

If luck failed him, he would simply invest more time.

Gwoooah!!

The abomination roared and lunged forward.

Its right arm whipped toward him like a lash.

Woojin responded by slashing upward from below, scooping the blade in an arc.

The severed forearm flopped onto the dirt.

'Not the right arm either.'

Swish—

A strange gust cut through the air.

Woojin instinctively raised his left arm to block.

The abomination's long tongue shot out and coiled around his arm like a snake. The creature yanked hard, trying to pull him closer.

Trying to play tug-of-war?

Woojin pulled back in return, gripping the slimy tongue, and at the same time swept his foot into the creature's shin.

Its right leg had only recently regenerated and was still weak.

The abomination's body pitched forward helplessly.

As it fell toward him, Woojin used the arm wrapped in its tongue as leverage and smashed his fist repeatedly into its face.

Crack! Thud! Smash!!

Each blow dented the creature's face like a hollow tin can.

Then Woojin shoved his hand into its mouth, grabbed the base of the tongue, and yanked with all his strength.

Rip!!

Blood burst outward as the tongue tore free.

Half of the creature's head was ripped apart along with it.

Yet before long, the head began slowly repairing itself.

'Not the head either.'

That left the left limbs.

A few more solid strikes should do it.

With that rough estimate in mind, Woojin stepped forward toward the abomination once more.

…Had the abominations realized that the situation was turning against them?

Suddenly, Derek fled from the approaching Woojin. At the same time, Cedric—who had been locked in combat with the holy knight—also retreated.

Woojin blinked in surprise.

It was the first time he had ever seen an abomination run away. They possessed overwhelming strength and regenerative power, but their intelligence was so low they could barely distinguish circumstances.

For a moment, he thought it might end like this—

Then both abominations abruptly charged at each other.

At full speed.

Boom!!

With a dull, thunderous crash, Derek and Cedric collided. Their flesh blended together like kneaded clay, gradually reforming into a single being.

Woojin had never seen this before.

"…What? They can merge too?"

He couldn't help but stare in astonishment.

Was it possible because they had originally been brothers?

That seemed likely. He had hunted many abominations before, but he had never once witnessed such a phenomenon.

"Throw the net!!"

Jonathan suddenly shouted.

At once, the mercenaries hurled their nets with all their strength. Unbreakable nets—the signature treasure of the Spearhead Mercenary Corps.

The fused abomination was engulfed.

There was an old saying about letting an opponent finish transforming before attacking—but mercenaries always valued practicality over honor.

"…Wait."

A simple solution came to Woojin.

He stepped forward toward the creature and grabbed hold of the net, circling it several times at high speed.

The abomination became further entangled with each pass.

Soon, the net wrapped around its entire body like a mummy's shroud.

Jonathan frowned.

"Hey, if you do that, we won't be able to throw javelins."

"There's another way."

Woojin handed one of the thick rope ends to Jonathan.

Jonathan looked puzzled.

"What are you planning?"

"When I give the signal, pull with all your strength. You'll need several men."

"…All right."

Trusting there was a plan, Jonathan hurriedly gathered people. Around twenty men took hold of the rope.

On the opposite end, Woojin stood alone, gripping the other side.

"Pull!"

At his signal, twenty men yanked with all their might.

At that exact moment, the merged abomination let out a savage roar, its transformation apparently complete.

Gwoooaaargh!!

It now stood as a massive creature with two heads.

It thrashed violently, trying to shake off the net—but the net coiled tightly around its body, compressing it like an iron corset.

Woojin pulled with all his strength.

Krrrraaaak—!

The net constricted further, crushing the creature's body.

Flesh bulged grotesquely through the gaps in the mesh, like dough pressed into a waffle iron.

The problem was that Woojin's monstrous strength was nearly dragging the mercenaries forward.

Faces flushed red as they strained desperately.

Jonathan shouted at the top of his lungs.

"More men! Get more, more!!"

Onlookers rushed in to grab the rope.

Soon, roughly forty men were locked in the contest of strength.

Woojin twisted his wrist and wrapped the rope around his forearm, shortening it before pulling again.

Each tug increased the crushing pressure.

The abomination roared and writhed in panic, but there was no escape.

…He felt it.

The corner of Woojin's mouth lifted.

"Goodbye."

He pulled with everything he had.

Splat!!

Dark red blood burst outward.

The abomination's body, compressed by the net, was ground apart like a hamburger patty in a press.

Chunks of flesh scattered across the ground.

At the same time, the mercenaries tumbled backward in a heap as the tension suddenly vanished.

"…What the hell was that?"

Jonathan stared at Woojin in stunned disbelief.

He had never imagined the net could be used that way.

"So it really doesn't break."

Woojin replied calmly and walked toward the net.

He lifted the pieces of flesh bulging through the mesh.

Soon, he found a lump of meat writhing like a slug.

The abomination was attempting to regenerate.

But it was futile.

Its entire body had been pulverized beyond recovery.

Woojin sliced the lump open with a dagger.

Inside, the abomination's core pulsed.

It was the first time he had obtained one intact.

He had never killed an abomination without destroying the core before.

He examined it with curiosity.

'Strange-looking.'

It resembled a snowman.

Normally, a core was round like a walnut kernel. But since two abominations had merged, their two cores overlapped like intersecting spheres.

'I'll keep it for now.'

He wrapped the core in a thin cloth and tucked it deep into his clothes.

Then, to assess the situation, Woojin walked toward the tarasque's corpse.

But someone had arrived before him.

Raymond stood there, face hollow with grief, tending to the bodies of the fallen holy knights.

Two knights lay neatly on the ground.

One was the young knight he had seen earlier.

The other was unfamiliar—likely one of the guards who had been waiting inside the tent.

Raymond silently wiped the blood from their faces with a handkerchief.

Woojin opened his mouth to speak, then closed it again.

There were no words that could offer comfort.

'…If I had gone with him, I could've saved him.'

He had stepped back out of respect for the young knight's wishes.

Was it wrong to hold back? Should he have acted regardless?

Perhaps it was hindsight—but sometimes charging in first might be the better choice.

With that thought lingering, Woojin turned to the tarasque.

He lifted the tent flap and looked inside.

It was a sea of blood.

His brow furrowed.

'The abominations tore into the tarasque's back.'

Dark red blood pooled across the tent floor.

The two creatures had eaten into the beast's back while it was alive.

The tarasque must have gone mad trying to escape that agony.

One small mystery was solved.

But a larger one remained.

Why had the brothers, Derek and Cedric, suddenly turned into abominations?

'…I have no idea.'

He searched the inside of the tent for clues, but found nothing.

What kind of act could transform a human into such a monster?

He couldn't even begin to imagine.

'This is beyond my knowledge.'

It felt like a waste of time to search further.

So Woojin returned to the others.

There was something far more urgent to deal with.

The Golden Maggot's two sons were dead.

Now came the question of how to handle the aftermath.

It was time for many heads to start aching.