Chapter 16: Creeping Crawling Malevolence

Chapter 16:
Creeping Crawling Malevolence

 

ABOVE GROUND, Gadhio and Eterna were giving it all they had to save Sheol’s citizens.

Gadhio used powerful fire attacks to blow the reanimated dead to shreds, while Eterna used her ice powers to create Fenrir, a monstrous wolf that she rode with Ink as they escorted the other citizens to safety.

The reanimated dead continued their ruthless assault on the living. At first it was difficult to distinguish between them, but as time went on, the latter’s eyes melted away to reveal Origin’s mark.

Just as Gadhio was about to cleave through another dead monster, he was stunned to see it fall still.

Eterna called out in confusion. “All of the dead just…stopped moving.”

Ink pressed in close to Eterna from where she sat on Fenrir’s back. She was clearly afraid. “Some…something’s coming.”

“Ink?”

“Whatever it is, it’s really, really big. And it’s coming up through the ground!”

Just as the words left her mouth, Eterna felt the earth shudder beneath her. A moment later, the roof of the church blew out as something tore up out of the earth.

“What in the…”

Rising from the hole in the roof was a tower of corpses. The reanimated dead throughout Sheol converged on the tower, becoming one with it. The more bodies it consumed, the taller the tower became, until it blocked out the light of the moon, throwing a menacing shadow over the entire village.

Gadhio looked up. “It absorbed the focal core?! And that woman up on top, that’s…”

Suddenly Nekt appeared at his side. She had already taken Milkit somewhere safe.

“That’s Satils.”

The lower half of Satils’ body had merged with the rest of the corpses, while her torso stuck out of the top of the focal core. She had lost every vestige of humanity.

“Satils? What’s that deranged woman… Actually, no, we can discuss that later. Can we count on you to help, Nekt?”

“I’ve been out to crush the Necromancy project from the start. Besides, I can’t just turn a blind eye to Flum being sucked up into that thing.”

“She is?!” Ink called out from atop Fenrir’s back.

“You’ve always had great hearing, Ink. I see nothing’s changed!”

“Then we’ve gotta save her before we take that thing out.”

“I get what you’re saying, but it’s pretty powerful, ya know? Just look.”

Once it had absorbed all of the dead in the village, the fifty-meter tower of bodies slumped forward in an attempt to crush the heroes. The sheer sight of the thing was awe-inspiring…and full of terror.

Nekt, Eterna, and Gadhio scattered.

FWAA-OOSH!

A massive cloud of dirt rose high in the sky as houses collapsed, the earth gave way, and the undead horde fell to the ground all around it. Countless arms and legs sprouted from its sides, and it began to crawl forward.

“That’s no tower, it’s a giant centipede!!”

“It’s heading right toward the evacuees!”

“Not a chance! Hyaaaaaaaaaah!!” Gadhio stood directly in Satils’ path.

“It looks like your reputation exceeds the man, Gadhio Lathcutt!!”

The moment his blade made contact with Satils, Gadhio was blown backward with meteoric force. He tried to hold his ground, but the blow sent him sliding backwards, digging deep trenches in the dirt where his feet held firm.

“Nnng…! This thing is intelligent?!”

“I’m no mere core! I’ve retained my consciousness! With all my money and power, and God’s love, I truly must be the chosen one!!”

“What the hell kind of logic is that?!”

Logic aside, Satils could still overpower Gadhio by an impressive margin.

I’m just not strong enough…but there’s still one more thing I can try. As long as this gives me a chance to get back at Chimera, I can’t worry about failure!

Gadhio had gained something important the moment he committed to ending Tia’s life—the power to push past his own prior limits. But even that wasn’t enough, compared to the power Satils now wielded.

“Aqua Golem, Ice Golem…go!!”

Eterna summoned up twin giants of water and ice and ordered them to grab both sides of the monster in an attempt to hold it back.

While it was slowed, Nekt launched into an attack of her own. “Get crushed! Connection!”

She teleported an empty house above Satils’ head and dropped it on her.

“Your attacks are little more than insect bites to me!!”

Countless tendrils made up of human limbs reached out of Satils’ torso, coming together to grab the house and mercilessly beat down Eterna’s golems.

“And you—I’m going to let you die with the knowledge that you couldn’t save your wife!” Satils shouldn’t have known about what happened between Gadhio and Tia, but the focal core and its power over all of the Necromancy cores gave Satils greater insight into all that unfolded in the village. “Gyaaaaaaaaaugh!!”

The house came flying straight at Gadhio, who could do nothing to block the blow. If he turned and ran, Satils would pick up speed and murder the remaining survivors. He had little choice but to take the ten-ton mass of wood and stone head-on.

“You think something like that can kill me?!” he ground out.

He made it through completely unscathed, despite his lack of armor—all thanks to his prana reinforcing and strengthening his body enough to withstand the blow. In a sense, it was his very will that helped him through it.

Satils laughed. “Well, aren’t you a tough bug to squash! Let’s try this instead!”

She gave up on trying to smash the survivors and sent her hordes of tendrils out toward Gadhio.

“Pretty impressive for an old guy, but I think this is getting a bit hairy. You agree, old lady?” Nekt turned toward Eterna.

“I’ll beat you up later, kid.”

“Testy, testy. But anyway, I need you to make a huge sphere out of water or ice or something.”

“Little jerk… But we don’t have time for this. Ice Meteorite!!”

Eterna wasn’t entirely convinced of what Nekt asked of her, but she could quibble after the fight. She reluctantly created a ball of ice a dozen or so meters in diameter and held it in midair.

“A little praise here, Ink, for keeping my temper?”

“You’re doing great, Eterna!”

It was Nekt’s turn.

“Go!! Connection!” Rather than simply teleporting it, Nekt used her power to fling the ball of ice at Satils. It hit her with such force that the shock wave alone would have thrown a normal person off their feet.

Satils made no attempt to block the blow.

And yet…

“Heh heh. Did I feel a breeze?”

She didn’t even suffer a scratch.

“Unbelievable…”

“I know she’s bonded with that massive core, but even then, this is incredible.”

If Nekt’s understanding was correct, Satils shouldn’t be able to use any cores other than the focal core within her. Even if multiple cores were implanted within the same person, the interaction between them would cause a cascade effect that made them impossible to control. While it could grant tremendous power for a short while, it would tear the user apart.

Even with the effects of the focal core, she should still only be able to utilize a maximum of two cores at once. Since Satils was reanimated with a Necromancy core implanted within her, she should have only had her core and the focal core.

None of that explained how she was able to resist their attacks.

“Hngg…her power…!” Gadhio was using his sword to bat away tendrils as they came in, though he couldn’t do any lasting damage. They were simply too strong. The only good side for him was that they weren’t terribly fast.

Nekt finally figured out how Satils was accessing the cores.

“That’s it… The dead aren’t actually fused together into one massive body made up of many cores. They’re a bunch of individual bodies with their own cores, each being controlled by the focal core!”

Eterna glanced over at Nekt as she tried to protect Gadhio with a barrage of water bullets. “Meaning…what, exactly?”

“They’re all moving in concert.”

“So they could come apart and move around individually if they wanted?”

“I assume it’s possible.”

Just as they predicted, Satils’ body split off right at the halfway point. The back half began to crawl on its countless arms and legs toward the evacuees.

“I’m guessing their defensive strength and power come from the power of Origin granted to each and every one of the bodies. If they can separate like this, there’s just no way we can gain the upper hand with how few of us there are. I think the most logical choice would be to escape.”

“There’s no way we can do that.”

“I figured as much. You guys didn’t seem the type.” With that, Nekt teleported in front of the back half. “Let’s try something different this time!”

She balled her hands into tight fists, ripping trees straight from the ground and shooting them like giant arrows toward the creature. It squirmed and writhed around the trees that rained down on it as it continued on its ceaseless drive to fulfill Satils’ command.

Eterna rode up next to Nekt and pointed her open palm at the enemy from where she sat atop Fenrir.

“Hydro Pressure!!” A powerful stream of water shot from her hand. As long as her magic didn’t run out, she could keep the blast going as long as she wanted.

It did nothing to slow the beast down.

“I’ve got more where that came from!”

“I’m just getting warmed up!”

Nekt pressed on with the tree missiles, while Eterna increased the pressure of the water blast as they continued to lay into the creature.

“Just stop already!!”

Satils mumbled to herself even as she continued to battle Gadhio. “Well, if you’re going to ask nicely…”

The creature went still, sending a sense of relief washing over Nekt and Eterna. Just then, however, it began to blow apart.

“It’s exploding?”

“No, Eterna… I can hear voices, and lots of them!”

“It’s splitting up into even smaller parts!!”

“I hardly need such a massive creature just to kill these sweet little survivors, you know. I hear you’re absolutely amazing at fighting crowds, Gadhio, so why don’t you show me your moves?”

“Go to hell, hag!”

Gadhio was too consumed with defending against the incoming tendrils to advance or retreat. It took all of his concentration just to survive.

The split-off creatures let out unearthly cries and rushed the survivors. Each moved in its own distinct way, some like crazed humans and yet others like dogs, spiders, or even worms.

“It’s up to us!”

“There may be a lot of them, but they’re weaker now! Here’s our chance to cut down their numbers!”

Eterna summoned up a powerful hailstorm and froze the ground beneath them to hold them in place before firing off a barrage of water bullets. Nekt used her powers to connect several bodies together, forcing them to a standstill and then crushing them or flinging them into nearby objects. Despite their best efforts, it was slow going in the face of such immense numbers.

“Look here, I’ve prepared a little surprise for you!” The tendrils extending out of Satils’ body tore a house from the ground and hurled it at the survivors. Gadhio, Eterna, and Nekt were all too occupied with their own battles to save them.

The remaining survivors came together as they watched their impending death loom closer.

“I told you to take care of this, Werner!!”

“Right-o!”

The two lieutenant generals of the royal army dove into the fray to protect the survivors.

“Vibration Claw!!” Wind magic surrounded Werner’s silver claws, enabling him to easily smash through any debris flying his way.

“Take a bite, blood snake Amphisbaena!” Ottilie used her Genocide Arts to unleash two snakes made of blood. The snakes smashed their way through the remains of the home and thrashed about the interior to further weaken it.

“We’ll get the citizens out of here!”

Though they would have rather stayed to fight, one quick look at Ottilie, Werner, and their contingent of soldiers made it clear they had suffered quite an ordeal fighting their way into the village.

“The army! Amazing!”

“More bugs? Well, then I’ll just have to crush you, too!”

“Not gonna happen, Satils! Titan Blade!!” Stone surrounded Gadhio’s sword, causing it to grow several times in length. Without a moment’s hesitation, he brought it down on her head. Though she didn’t suffer any damage from the blow, it did break her focus.

“I’m really growing quite tired with dealing with you! Hurry up and go join your wife!!” Satils’ anger was eroding her ability to think rationally. Even as her attack on Gadhio picked up in ferocity, she became locked into the task at hand. Even the countless creatures separated from her body mere moments ago responded to her rage and formed back up on her.

“Nekt, please take Ink back to Ottilie,” Eterna said.

“You want me to help Ink, of all people? Haah…I guess I don’t have much choice.”

“Thanks.”

Nekt muttered to herself in annoyance. “Thanks for nothing. You really are dead weight, Ink…but whatever. Connection!”

She teleported Ink away.

With Ink off the battlefield, Eterna turned her attention fully to Satils. She didn’t need to hold back anymore. Ottilie and the other soldiers were taken aback at Nekt’s sudden appearance, but they quickly took custody of Ink. Nekt made her way back to where she’d left Milkit for safekeeping.

“Nekt…” Milkit sat behind a building on the outskirts of Sheol with her knees held tightly to her chest.

“The royal army came to rescue the survivors. You should go with them.”

“Do you…do you think you can save Master?”

“I wish I could say yes, but I think our chances are pretty slim.”

Though they gave Satils a run for her money, the truth was that they still hadn’t inflicted any damage on her.

“Satils can use the cores embedded in all of the corpses around her to shield her entire body. It’s completely unlike what my core can do. I dunno if anyone but Flum can actually tackle her.”

“Even Master couldn’t hurt her.”

“Really…? Well, then we have no hope of winning.”

“C-can you let me come along to help Master?”

“Are you serious??”

Nekt was half-convinced Milkit was completely out of her mind.

“Flum isn’t just sitting inside that thing, ya know?” she said. “Sure, she’s been physically sucked up into it, but being in there’s like drowning in an ocean of Origin’s consciousness. She’s probably lost all sense of self at this point.”

Nekt struggled to avoid using the word “Papa” here to describe Origin. She had thus far mostly ignored his existence, but Origin’s current actions were too much for her to overlook. Nekt had only survived the barrage this long thanks to her own core.

“If I call out to her, maybe she’ll come back to us,” Milkit insisted.

“The real world isn’t that convenient. Besides, we don’t even know where she is in that thing.”

“But I do! I saw Master’s hand come out when I was watching the battle earlier!”

“How could you identify a single hand out of all the other ones out there?”

“If you could just get me close, I can take her hand and call out to her. She just might hear me.”

“Even if she does, you know the odds of you surviving this are microscopic, right?”

Milkit didn’t even blink. “Living in a world without Master is a far more terrifying fate.”

She wasn’t the least bit afraid to throw down her life for Flum. That much she could say with complete confidence.

Nekt sighed loudly. “You’re not going to give in no matter what I say, are you? Fine, fine. I’ll take you.”

She laughed ruefully to herself. Apparently Milkit was having an effect on her, too.

 

***

 

Deep in the sea of Origin’s consciousness, a lone voice called out into the void.

“Who am I?”

Countless responses came echoing back.

“I’m you.” “You’re me.” “Me and me and me and me are all you.” “I hate this.” “I’m no one.” “I’m what we should all be.” “We’re all connected, as we should be.” “Get me out of here.” “I always wanted us to be together.” “Help.” “I’m complete.”

In the midst of all these voices, Flum became even more confused about where and who she was. The worst part about it was just how amazingly at peace she felt being here. The longer she stayed, the deeper she felt herself fall into it.

At the bottom of this ocean was a bed of corpses…or, rather, empty shells.

If Origin’s consciousness was the water, then these shells were those that couldn’t live up to its expectations. Or perhaps these were the bodies of the living who’d been devoured. Those bodies called out to no one in particular, letting all their sadness, hatred, and anger spill forth.

“All I wanted was to live with my wife again. Why did this have to happen?” “I just wanted to be reunited with my darling.” “I didn’t want to die. Why was I denied this simple, universal wish?” “Please, give me my happiness back.”

The Necromancy project was the means through which these people hoped to have their simple, universal wish granted. They were all victims of the system. They’d known nothing of the Origin cores before trusting their hopes and dreams to it.

Flum was pulled down by all their resentment, sinking lower and lower into the depths until she reached the empty shells that blanketed the ocean floor.

She had no idea who she was, but she knew the water around her was warm and pleasant. What little she could see was fuzzy and ill-defined, though there was something distinctly familiar about the man in a white coat lying next to her.