Chapter 342 The Salvation Of Death

More of these humanoid monstrosities that should stay at the bottom of whatever sea they crawled out of surrounded them; a gargantuan, four-legged whale blocked the path ahead, breathing out a breath that swept forth as a gust.

Even crab men showed up, dressed in pitch-black crustacean armor with giant pincers, prompting everybody to ready themselves for combat.

"More crab? Fine by me!" Blimpo grinned as he readied his rune cannon.

Each of these creatures murmured the same thing: "The Dragonheart will not pass."

Emilio immediately found himself having to rapidly bob and weave through rapid thrusts of the swordfish humanoid's own head as it tried skewering him with the spear-like shape of its own weaponized head.

"Let me guess–King of Spades wants you to stop me?!" Emilio asked while dodging.

The swordfish continued wildly thrusting its head towards him, though the Dragonheart remained vigilant on his feet.

It spoke in a wild, rough voice, responding while banging its head in the air, "For the King! For the king! For the King!"

'They're crazy for this "King"!' He realized.

​ Finally intercepting its unstopped assault with a rude burst of wind that knocked its balance off, he rushed forward, drawing his sword and squeezing it with his metal grip as he imbued flames into his blade.

"Tell me who this "King of Spades" is or die!" He yelled, rushing in.

The swordfish-man was stumbling around, hissing out the same words over and over, "For the King! For the King! For the–"

SQUELCH

There was no room for mercy in his heart during such precious time, leading him to cleave the swordfish' head straight off of its body as he reached it.

"--" He stood there, watching its body fall over limp.

'They're madly loyal to this "King of Spades" figure–is it a Primordial? I doubt it for some reason,' he thought.

Either way, there wasn't a shortage of those who could give them answers as the entire cavern of coral was now being surrounded with the violent humanoid marine life.

–

It was mayhem; a brawl of the grotesque interpretation of demi-humans as the elven man found himself ducking and rolling behind a pillar of stone as a crab man slammed its hand against the pillar, causing it to rumble violently.

"You do not seem like a tasty crab!" Blimpo called out.

Across the way, Joel had his hands full dealing with a swift mantis shrimp of a subtly-glowing, orange complexion which would fire up whenever it released one of its sound barrier-breaking punches his way.

"Please stop antagonizing the enemy–! You're just going to make them angrier!" Joel yelled out while nearly getting his face caved in by the mantis shrimp's overpowered punch.

Sword technique alone wasn't enough to fight on even footing with the tall, man-shaped mantis shrimp as its punches flew forward harshly. Even when trying to deflect them, Joel found his limbs being jolted back and his blade left steaming from the impact.

'Those punches are way too strong!...Still, there's gotta be something I can do,' Joel thought.

WHAM

As he tried to find an opening, the enemy found one on him, sinking its orange fist into his stomach with a blow of such potency that the air burned itself out of Joel's lungs.

"Pyuh-!" Joel spit out.

The impact burnt a hole straight through his shirt, leaving a prominent bruise on his abdominal region as he was knocked back harshly.

"For the King," the mantis shrimp spoke calmly as steam exuded from its fist.

"Joel!"

Both Blimpo and Emilio showed their concern with the silver-haired man, though he picked himself up and spit out the blood from his mouth in such a way to reinstill confidence.

"...Dontcha worry about me," Joel coughed out, picking up his sword again, "I've got this! So just keep your eyes on the prize!"

Of course, it was already known that he was the type of person to relentlessly assure he could handle any given situation, no matter how bloody or bruised he became, but still, while he was gripping his sword and standing on two feet, who was to doubt those words?

"Alright! Don't lose to that shrimp!" Emilio called out, tossing fireballs against a pair of rapidly-moving seahorse-men.

Though it was easier said than done as Joel squared off against the tall, ruthless shrimp as it raised its fists like some sort of professional boxer. He was well aware that a direct hit from one of those punches to the head would be certain death, but he knew the same could be said for his own sword.

The essence of wind that he was able to call upon wasn't anything strong, but it was immensely helpful; he focused it as he readied himself in position set for a dash as the wind gathered.

'In one attack. In one attack, I'll finish it,' Joel thought.

The lanky mantis shrimp revved its arms up before kicking off towards him, coiling its arm to prepare for a strike before–FWOOSH.

In one kick, Joel dashed forward with wind guiding him, shooting straight past the powerful puncher and stopping, already having swung his blade.

"I did it," he exhaled.

With that breath of relief, the mantis shrimp's torso split open as colorful blood sprayed out before it dropped down to the ground. Victory was found for the silver-haired man as he wiped the sweat and blood from his chin, looking up.

'My story might be over…but, Melisande, yours is just beginning. I'll bring Emilio back so you two can go on to bring wonderful stories to me, whenever that time should come,' he thought.

–

BOOM. BOOM. BOOM.

The elven man continued running away while pulling the trigger of his rune cannon, causing its wood-and-metal, scrappy form to shudder with every chaotic release that swept in the direction of the onyx-armored crab man.

"How 'bout this?!" Blimpo gritted his teeth before reaching into the pouch on his belt, retrieving a circular gadget before tossing it straight towards the bulky crab man.

As soon as the humanoid crab tried to deflect the sphere with its oversized claw, it expanded and morphed itself around the crab man's arm, locking it down and acting like a heavy anchor.

"Hah! Can't swing that thing around willy-nilly anymore, can you?!" Blimpo taunted.

Though the elf's pride in his own tools was quickly challenged as the bulky crab man slammed his restrained claw against the rocky wall, shattering the bindings and freeing its pincher again as it opened and closed a few times as if saying "My turn".

"Oh yeah?! Well…I knew you'd do that!" Blimpo yelled out, "...Huh?"

Everybody in the group went silent as they witnessed their unorthodox foes suddenly freeze up as if seeing ghosts then simply–they fell. The man-fish hybrids dropped down with their bodies limp as if their very souls had evaporated on the spot.

"What?..." Emilio audibly let out, witnessing the fish men he fought collapse.

"...Hm."

Vandread watched as the four-legged land whale he had covered in gashes drop down with a cave-rumbling thud, dying on the spot from unknown causes.

They regrouped, watching each other's backs in perplexity as to what caused the sudden death of their monstrous assailants.

"Any clue what just happened?" Joel whispered.

"My hypothesis is…a sudden, united string of heart attacks? That's my best guess," Blimpo responded.

Emilio kept his eyes peeled, looking around, "No…I feel something. Asher, do you sense that? This mana signature…I can taste it. It's bitter and chalky, like coal…What is this?"

"Yeah. It's terrible," Asher nodded.

Footsteps suddenly made themselves known in the cave, coming from the direction they were initially heading before being intercepted by the now dead fish men. The closer the ominous footsteps got, approaching from a darkness that only came closer, the more dense that awful mana became.

That ever approaching gulf of shadows; Emilio felt it familiar to him, witnessing such a nightmarish concept in his dreams as he kept himself ready, standing alongside his comrades in arms.

'Is it a Primordial? Causing everything to drop dead like that…but whatever it is, it kept us alive. Is it a friend?' He questioned.

Finally, the figure that approached was revealed from the darkness as the footsteps came to a silent halt; it was a man of a pale complexion with prickly, jet-black hair and dark bags under his eyes. He looked ghastly and unfriendly with those exhausted, sleepless eyes, undoubtedly the origin of the sickeningly dark mana.

"Who are you?" Vandread asked, keeping his distance.

"--" The stranger remained silent for a moment before finally responding, "What a bother. You're lucky my sister is kinder than I."

"What're you talking about?" Emilio asked.

The tired looking man straightened himself, wearing baggy, black clothes, "You were making a racket down here, so I saved you all. Be grateful to my sister, not me. It was her idea. Now come on, I'll show you the way out of here."

"And who are you?" Joel asked, gulping as he kept his blade drawn.

It took a moment for an answer to come from the stranger's lips as he stepped closer, almost suffocating the others with his dense air of mana.

As he stood there with the abyss itself seeming to exude from his pores, his name fell from his lips quietly, "Avdima."