Chapter 252 – Immortal Centipede – 2

ㅡkiiiik!

As I grabbed half of its face, a strange sound escaped from its mouth. Its jaw clashed together, rampaging, trying to bite my hand. I twisted its neck 90 degrees by snapping my wrist.

The grotesquely twisted neck revealed the connection between its head and body. I plunged the Wingless Nightmare into the exposed neck. The blade burrowed cleanly inside and popped out the other side.

I confirmed that green blood gushed from the pierced armor, and while twisting the sword, I ripped the entire head off. The head, now disconnected, came off easily.

After throwing the severed head to the ground, I stomped on it with all my strength. Quak, I felt something break beneath my feet.

Where the head used to be, the Immortal Centipede was writhing. It twisted its segments grotesquely. Its short legs moved incessantly.

I kicked the body with my foot. The headless body floated into the air. Its four legs flailed wildly for a moment, but in that brief time of rising, it finished regenerating and landed lightly.

‘This is a failure too.’

I thought of the next method without hesitation.

I tried to recall the motion of True Death from Brinaq 3 as much as I could, but seeing that it was still intact and bursting with energy, it was clear that I gained little.

The thing was making a hard clack with its jaw, watching for an opportunity. It seemed to have learned that mindlessly charging at me would only result in getting beaten up.

Whether it got beaten up or not, if it just pushed forward in a all-out brawl, it would probably win in about a week.

But it seemed it didn’t have the patience for such a drawn-out fight.

ㅡkirirrik! krik!

The standoff didn’t last long. It made some strange noises with its armor on its back. While I hesitated to understand its intention due to this unfamiliar sight, an echo rang out in response.

Scratch, scratch, the echoes echoed back.

‘Wait a second. That noise…’

It sounded oddly familiar, so I instinctively turned to look behind me, ready to respond the moment it charged.

‘…As expected.’

My ominous prediction was not wrong. The bugs that had been swarming in the dungeon were charging down the corridor leading to the Boss Room.

I couldn’t even imagine how many there were; there was barely any empty space throughout the entire corridor. The floor, walls, and ceiling were piled thick with them, trampling over one another.

It was an overwhelming wave pouring forth, not at all an exaggeration.

‘Right. 1v1 didn’t seem to have a chance, huh?’

I gritted my teeth. What was scattered outside were the minions controlled by the Immortal Centipede, and since there wasn’t a white mist wall blocking the Boss Room like in the game, it made sense.

I never expected the Immortal Centipede to summon its minions.

‘If they had charged from the corridor, I could have handled it.’

The fact that the bugs were coming was not a problem in itself.

In the past, it would have been tough, but now I could use Sacred Spells and infinitely use Dark Magic along with replenishing health with runes. I had plenty of area-of-effect methods of attack.

As long as it was in a narrow corridor, that is. Before I could seal off the entrance, the bugs started to fill the floor of the Boss Room. That was the issue.

I took out the Sacred Catalyst. I didn’t know how many would come pouring in, but from here on it was a battle of concentration.

Whether I slip and make a mistake first, or the enemy depletes their numbers first.

‘The advantage seems to be theirs.’

The Boss had infinite life and the mobs were in numbers that I couldn’t even imagine.

The swarm of bugs had filled more than half of the Boss Room. I estimated their numbers. At the very least, there had to be over a thousand.

‘To avoid being surrounded… do I need to stick to the wall?’

If I got surrounded from behind, the situation would become very unfavorable. I confirmed the swarming bugs that were gradually expanding their range sideways. They seemed to have the same thought as I did.

ㅡkirirrrr!

Its back trembled, and the wave of bugs surged in at that signal. First, the ones closest to me.

With the Sacred Catalyst in my left hand, I swung from above to below. A silver barrier spread across the floor. The bugs instantly flipped over and curled up when their feet touched the barrier of Divine Power, dying instantly.

However, the effect of the barrier didn’t last long. The bugs died, and more and more of them created a sort of carpet from their corpses. The bugs approached, stepping over that carpet.

Although the Divine Power was continuously dissolving the corpses, the speed of new corpses piling up was much quicker.

Creating a sword made of golden light mass in my left hand, I swung it horizontally. The bugs coming from the front got bisected at the waist and rolled to the ground. The ones behind them quickly filled the empty spots.

I took a few steps back and swung once more. With just two sword strikes, dozens of bugs were cut down, but there was hardly any sign of their numbers diminishing.

‘They’re coming.’

As if trying to swarm me, the Immortal Centipede started moving its legs. It walked over the wave of bugs, smashing and crushing them beneath its feet.

The bugs were only narrowing their encirclement around me, not coming any closer than a certain distance. It was clear what their goal was.

And I had no intention of allowing such a thing, so I triggered a Divine Explosion to create ample space. The dismembered bug bodies flew chaotically through the air, and green blood splattered over the eggs.

After sweeping forward with the Sacred Catalyst to create a spear of light, I caught a stumbling bug nearby and activated my vampiric impulse. Soon after, a silver barrier and black flame were laid down simultaneously.

The small bugs melted away into nothingness, but the Immortal Centipede continued to melt then regenerate in real-time, drawing steadily closer. Its horrifying front legs extended out.

I slashed off one front leg, cut the head in half, and then dismembered the body. The vertically half-sliced body dropped onto the barrier of Divine Power.

Its body melted on the barrier but returned to its original form.

‘Tsk.’

I clicked my tongue, widening the distance. Now that it had come to this, I needed to secure a shortcut—

“Delta!”

“……?”

A voice that shouldn’t be here echoed. It was from the other side of the corridor. As I froze for a moment, the Immortal Centipede twisted its head. It seemed confused to hear another human voice.

From the corridor where the swarm of bugs was pouring out, a black flame exploded, a scale much larger than what I casted. The bugs caught in that black flame shattered into ashes without even leaving a trace.

As the smoke rose and black flame billowed, someone appeared.

“……Nix?”

It was Nix.

As Nix entered the Boss Room and glanced around looking for me, our eyes met and she subtly adjusted her position to generate another black flame. A terrifying inferno engulfed the entire Boss Room.

It consumed everything: the corpses sprawled on the floor, the live bugs walking around on them, the eggs stuck in every corner, and finally, the Immortal Centipede’s host.

The black flame unleashed by Nix swept away everything in the Boss Room equally.

Except for me.

“Delta! Please wait a moment! I’ll go!”

In the blink of an eye, Nix erased the Boss Room and teleportated next to me. Then, having recovered, she shoved the Immortal Centipede into a corner of the Boss Room.

With just a gesture, she sealed the corridor where the bugs were pouring out with black flame. Sounds of bugs throwing themselves into the black flame, turning to ashes, echoed continuously from beyond.

“How did you get here? How did you know my location?”

The first emotion I felt was surprise. Nix, who had been so terrified of the bugs, how did she manage to find her way here?

Even if she moved by teleportation outside the Poison Swamp, it would’ve meant finding her path on foot inside the dungeon.

“I followed your soul, but that’s not something to worry about right now. That over there, it’s the Immortal Centipede.”

“Your tone….”

It was only now that I realized Nix’s tone had changed. It was a way of speaking I had never heard from her, whether in familiar or formal speech. It reminded me of how the Soul Guardian spoke in Brinaq 3—

“Wait a second. You can’t be—”

“That assumption is correct. If you’ve thought it through properly. Now is not the time to be surprised; we need to hurry.”

Nix created a waterfall of black flame and slammed the Immortal Centipede below it. The flames continually poured down, firmly binding the Immortal Centipede to the floor.

The Immortal Centipede struggled desperately to escape, but this trap couldn’t be escaped simply by tearing its body apart.

While it thrashed, Nix stood facing me.

“Not long ago, I said it wasn’t time to merge our souls yet. Why now all of a sudden?”

“The Immortal Centipede appeared, and I can’t delay any longer. Now that ‘I’ have learned the secret, I can’t hide it any longer.”

“What about the backlash? Didn’t you say merging our souls would bring a backlash?”

“If it’s just a moment, it should be fine. We’ll be able to separate again in a few hours. As I mentioned before, we won’t be able to withstand the backlash yet.”

Nix muttered something quickly, then cradled her lower chest with both hands. She gently lifted it up. Two weights, similar to her head, were prominently emphasized.

“Put your hand in.”

“What?”

“There’s no time. I’m telling you to put your hand in now.”

I was startled at first, but that was short-lived. Surely she didn’t mean for me to grasp her chest in such a situation. I reached my hand toward her chest.

Before my hand could touch the valley of her chest, a pitch-black light seeped out. Something rough poked its head out from between the light mass.

It was the handle of a sword.

There was no time for surprise. Nix signaled me to grab it. Grabbing the handle that was half sticking out from between her chest, I slowly pulled it out. A long sword revealed itself.

As I fully drew the sword, Nix lowered the hands that had been supporting her chest. It couldn’t hold its weight and sagged down slightly.

“This is….”

I stared blankly at the drawn sword. It was a sword with an overall black hue, rusted and dulled as if it couldn’t withstand the weight of time.

And, it was a sword I had seen before.

“It’s the weapon you used. Neither of us remembered it, but our souls recalled it when they merged. When we crossed over to this world, we each kept half of the sword in our souls.”

It was the only method to obliterate the Immortal Centipede along with True Death—a sword I previously used for self-destruction.

‘It was called ‘Immortal’.’