CH 25

With all my might, I moved my pincers and joints, still bound by chains. Surprisingly, there was no pain or sudden loss of movement as I exerted myself. To my amazement, the chains easily broke away, freeing me from my captivity.

Moments before, I had sensed a strange sensation in my soul. It signaled the breaking of the spiritual art of “Soul Binding,” which had been imposed on me since birth. Though I didn’t know why it had suddenly been released, I was overjoyed that it no longer had the power to hold me down. Fueled by this newfound freedom, I used my pincers to shatter the cage and charged toward the door, slicing it in two with my right pincer.

“Gaah…”

“What’s going on!?”

I leaned against the door and cut Georg, who had been standing right in front of it, in half along with the door. I had intended to kill the attackers who were supposed to be on the other side of the door as well, but it seemed they had sensed the danger and jumped back to avoid it. Damn it, I missed my chance.

However, it seemed that there was some damage after all. The tip of the sword held by the attacker had broken off. It felt slightly harder against my claw, so it must have been a sword.

“This one…! Just the thing I was looking for. I’ll take care of you.” 

the attacker said, glaring at me while pointing their broken sword at my body. Georg had told me that their goal was to kill me, so avoiding a fight seemed impossible. If they were going to try to kill me, then I would not hesitate to strike first. 

The attacker took the initiative and stepped forward, swinging their sword before I had the chance to react. An ordinary Hades Scorpion would not be able to dodge this attack and would be impaled. However, the attacker was unfortunate enough to face someone who was far from ordinary. 

“Huh…?”

Using my sturdy tail segment after the pincers, I hit the sword from the side to deflect it, then sliced off both of the attacker’s ankles with my right pincer. As the attacker fell forward with a ‘plop’ sound, I used my left pincer to cut their head clean off. The attacker’s head fell to the ground with a dumbfounded expression, as if he couldn’t understand what had just happened.

While it may appear improbable for someone to endure a beheading, I deemed it prudent to ensure that the attacker was no longer a threat. With that in mind, I proceeded to use my venomous stinger to strike the assailant’s body. The metal armor was of good quality and quite hard, but not so much that my stinger couldn’t pierce it and inject its potent venom. 

“Cough! Cough!” 

Georg was coughing behind me. Despite being split in two, he was still alive! He was quite persistent for an old man… I’ll put an end to him. 

I approached Georg calmly, without any hurry. As a scorpion, I was a flat creature and usually looked up at other creatures. Therefore, the only ones I could look down on were those who crawled on the ground… like the current Georg. 

“I see. You… held a grudge against me… huh… Fuh, cough! cough…!” 

Looking up at me, Georg was laughing while vomiting blood. He seemed to be aware that he was being resented. However, why was this old man laughing when he was about to die?

As I approached, Georg used only the strength of his arms to lift up his prone body. He had slipped several times in his own blood, but managed to turn himself over somehow. Once on his back, Georg reached into the pocket of his blood-stained jacket and took something out—a circular tool with intricate spiritual circuits etched on it.

It was entirely golden, with a circular indentation in the center. At the bottom of the indentation was a hole that connected to a hollow needle on the backside. Six claw-like prongs fixed jewels around the circumference. I wondered what kind of tool it could be.

“Phew… Phew… Fugoo!?” Georg groaned in agony as he stabbed the tool into his own abdomen. The spiritual circuits on the tool began to glow as Georg let out a cry of pain. Blood rushed up from the needle’s hole like a fountain, filling the indentation in an instant.

However, the blood didn’t overflow from the indentation. The six prongs glimmered eerily and formed a transparent hemispherical cover that prevented it from spilling out. Once the blood had filled the inside of the cover, the tool shone brightly once and then stopped functioning. All that remained was the crystallized blood of the guy, which had turned into a gem-like substance.

“This is… the Bloodstone Crystal. Even as a spiritual caster of modest talent, I can tell that the quality of this stone is good… cough!” 

Speaking of bloodstones… Ah, that was the powder he had mixed into my food. It was surprising to learn how it was made, and I felt a bit disgusted knowing that I had eaten it. And now he was making this stone out of his own blood, right before his death? 

Georg pulled out the tool for making the bloodstone crystal from his belly and threw it towards me. Instinctively, I knocked it down with my pincers, and the tool broke, causing the Bloodstone to roll onto the floor. What is he really trying to do? It doesn’t seem like an attack… 

“Take it. And become stronger! Strong enough to engrave my name in history!” 

I stabbed Georg’s throat with my poisonous stinger just after he started screaming feverishly. Even though he was close to death, he was still trying to impose his will on me. It was quite irritating that even at this stage, he didn’t give up.

Does he not know that he is being hated by everyone? It would be strange if he thought that I would obediently listen to him. Without letting the poison flow out of the stinger, I picked up Georg’s bloodstone with my claws without letting go ofthe stinger still stuck in him, and then crushed it with my pincers. 

“Why…you…”

Georg died with a look of astonishment on his face. Did he really find it so hard to believe that I wouldn’t eat his bloodstone? Even though I may have wanted to kill the detestable Georg, I had never thought of eating him. The thought of the flesh of someone I despised becoming a part of me would make me lose my appetite. 

Anyway, I had succeeded in killing Georg, whom I had wanted to kill for a long time. Also, since the “soul binding” had been released, it was highly likely that the young master had died as well, although the details were unknown. In other words, I had finally obtained my freedom! I was able to obtain the freedom I had dreamed of for so long! 

Although I felt like jumping with joy, it was essential to prioritize my escape over any celebration. I maintained strict control over my fighting spirit and spiritual power, skillfully vanishing into the shadows, ensuring every footstep was silent as I carefully ascended from the underground to the surface.

“Kishikishi…”

When I emerged from the underground, the scenery of the mansion and the courtyard had completely changed. The splendid mansion had become a mountain of rubble, and the beautifully arranged garden was producing smoke as the trees burned. I could only stand there dumbfounded, rubbing my small pincers, as I looked at the devastation before me.

I had anticipated this destruction when I heard the explosion echoing from below, but seeing it with my own compound eyes made me feel a little sad. I realized that I had grown attached to the view of the garden that I had seen during the short time it took to be transported from the basement to the arena. It surprised me to discover this about myself.

Nevertheless, the current situation was definitely favorable for escape. I could take advantage of the chaos and make a relatively safe getaway. So, I ran in the opposite direction of where I sensed the presence of the attackers.

(Hmm, some kind of spiritual attack.)

I had noticed a spiritual attack cast by one of the attackers, but its trajectory was significantly off from my position, indicating that I wasn’t the intended target. Its power didn’t seem strong enough to require me to protect myself from the blast. The fire ball spiritual attack blew up a shabby building in one corner of the mansion, right before my eyes.

At that time, I witnessed it. I realized it. In the explosion of the spiritual art that erupted, I saw several humanoid figures in shabby clothing mixed in with the flying debris from the building. That building… was a slave camp owned by the marquis.

My legs naturally turned in that direction, and before I knew it, I was running with all my might. When I reached the collapsed building, I desperately dug through the rubble, crushing it with my pincers. And then, I found it. The right hand of the slave, who was thin and weak, but had taken such good care of me, was wrapped in bandages.

I carefully, yet hastily, removed the rubble. When I cleared it all, there was only the slave’s right arm… it must have been torn off by the blast. The rest of the body was probably under other debris.

With the arm torn off and buried under rubble… there was no way she could still be alive. That meant she was dead… so, she had died. Yes… she had died.

“Cre-cre-creak…”

Before I knew it, I was grinding the small chelicerae in my mouth together so hard they felt like they were about to break. Both my legs and the large pincers were trembling. My control over my fighting spirit and spiritual power had become weak, and they were both increasing explosively at the same time. 

Why did that slave have to die? It was because of the spiritual art from earlier. Why did that spiritual art come flying at us? Because the attackers used it. Why did the attackers use the spiritual art? To defeat their enemies.

So, was that slave an enemy of the attackers? No, that’s not it. They were too weak and couldn’t have been an enemy. In other words, the slave was just caught up in a battle that had nothing to do with them. They were caught up in it and died easily.

Now that I was free, it was undoubtedly best to escape to fulfill my mission of “living for a hundred years.” I understood that. I understood it, but… my emotions and the intense anger that was burning my soul wouldn’t let me accept it.

“Creak… creak… creak… creak!”

The fighting spirit released from my body along with my anger rose up like a heat haze, while my spiritual power turned the surrounding rubble into sand. The building debris was transformed into sand, and in an instant, the surroundings turned into a mountain of sand.

Ever since the first time I used spiritual power, I was good at manipulating sand and changing things into sand. I knew that the power of spiritual art varied depending on the emotions put into it, but I didn’t know that just my unconsciously released spiritual power when I was furious could turn the entire surroundings into sand.

“Gitchitchi…”

Gently, I buried the right arm of the slave I had held with the pincers into the sand. Then, I made the sand mound into a neat cone shape and hardened it with spiritual power.

This was a grave for that slave. I had little knowledge of how the Furu race members mourned, but among the limited knowledge I had, there was a way to build a grave. I couldn’t imagine that building a big and splendid grave would please her, but there was only this and one more thing that I could do.

As I turned my back to the grave I had made by myself, I began to move towards the person who had cast the spiritual art. Fortunately, they seemed to be gathered in one place, without showing any hostility towards me. It was a relief to be spared the trouble of searching for them.

In an attempt to maintain my composure, I tried to suppress my overflowing fighting spirit and spiritual power. While this helped me avoid losing myself in anger, controlling the sudden surge of power was difficult, and I couldn’t fully restrain it. I realized that I still had a lot to learn.

I headed straight towards my destination. Since the surroundings had turned to sand, I didn’t need to detour, making it easy for me. Beyond the rubble of the mansion, which had crumbled into sand, I found four individuals of the human species wearing the same equipment as the attackers I had just killed. They were undoubtedly the enemies I had to kill.

“Gi-shaaaaaaa!!!”

As I released my suppressed fighting spirit and spiritual power, I let out a battle cry. At the same time, they moved to intercept me. Despite being consumed by rage, I remained surprisingly calm in my head. I would kill them without mercy, by any means necessary. With that determination, I vanished into the sandy ground.