Chapter 220: 117. Big Eyes -2
Adolf’s rank was ‘Iron’, which made him somewhat highly ranked in the pecking order. It was also one of the reasons why he stepped up to command his fellow adventurers and mercenaries.
Their job was to evacuate the citizens trapped within the city and eliminate the monsters along the way.
The Red Ogres were indeed difficult creatures to contend with, but they weren’t on the level of impossible to kill, as long as the magicians affiliated with Elusha fiefdom worked together with the adventurers.
They managed to gradually kill off the monsters roaming around the city. But in the midst of their operation, the adventurers and mercenaries suddenly began raising a noisy ruckus.
They pointed at the feudal lord’s castle where monsters were pouring out and screamed in shock.
“What the hell is that thing?!”
Adolf also quickly turned his head to look at the castle, and when he did, he had no choice but to open his eyes wide in shock.
Darkness was enveloping the entirety of the castle. Gloomy, ominous clouds began swirling in the skies above as terrifying thunderbolts went off one after the other.
The tragic screams of people escaped from the windows of the castle while reddish-black shadows could be seen writhing along the corridors, devouring everything in their paths.
Soon after, writhing, wriggling tentacles exploded out from every opening of the castle and began wrapping around the structure.
It was as if the tentacles were trying to swallow up the entire building.
“What the hell…?”
Just what was going on in there?
The horrifying spectacle taking place right now was something one might see in their worst nightmares.
When Adolf muttered that question out to no one in particular, a magician assisting him replied with a hardened face. “That’s the Big Eyes.”
“Big Eyes? What’s that?”
Adolf could proudly boast that his pool of knowledge regarding monster bestiary was better than ‘adequate’. But even then, he had never heard of the name ‘Big Eyes’ before.
“It’s an ancient monster often referred to as hell’s gatekeeper. It can regenerate indefinitely as long as there is enough prey to devour. Its main body is a huge eyeball, and also…” The magician swallowed back his dry saliva while staring at the castle. “…That monster is specialised in protecting something.”
A horde of undead began trudging out from the entrance of the castle. They were the evil spirits that managed to escape from purgatory.
These creatures glared with their murderously gleaming eyes at the adventurers of Elusha.
**
(TL: In 1st person POV.)
We left the Necromancer, who was now very dead after turning into a human meat skewer, behind in the cell and walked outside the prison.
Since the storage for confiscated items was right next to the prison, we didn’t have much trouble retrieving Hans’s luggage and Alice’s gauntlets.
I checked the city’s current status outside through the castle’s window. Monsters were running rampant on the city streets.
It seemed that all those monsters brought here by the feudal lord had been freed. What a relief it was that this city was full of adventurers.
Elusha’s defence forces were working together with the adventurers and mercenaries to suppress the monsters, albeit with some difficulty. And they were gradually creeping in closer to this castle, which was the source of all this trouble.
They had probably figured out that something weird was going on here.
I put the silver-white armour back on and then placed the helm on my head. With my trusty musket in my grip, I started walking down the corridor of the castle. Hans and Alice followed me from behind.
“What do you think is going on here, your highness?”
Alice asked me after glancing at the prison one last time.
“Well, isn’t it obvious? What with a Necromancer appearing before us and all.”
Yup, these fools must be up to something no good again.
I wonder, could this whole thing be somehow connected to Aslan?
That couldn’t be it.
That kingdom was now a subordinate nation to the Theocratic Empire, which meant that their actions would be closely monitored.
The feudal lords of Aslan might rebel against their new queen’s rules, but even then, they wouldn’t dare do something this big out in the open.
So… the only other possible explanation would be a faction not affiliated with Aslan making their move.
If we were dealing with just an organisation and not another kingdom’s government, then I didn’t see a reason why I shouldn’t handle this matter in my own way.
“Uwaaaahk!”
“R-run away!”
Knights and magicians could be seen breathlessly running towards us from the end of the corridor. I figured that some monsters were chasing after them or something.
I positioned my skeletons in front of us. The holy undead put up their shields and pointed with their spears.
The knights and magicians hurriedly running away stumbled on their feet, their eyes opening wider in panic. “U-undead…?!”
But just as they hesitated, the space behind them distorted without warning.
-Ki-hihihihihihik!
Bizarre, goosebump-inducing cackles resounded out as large eyeballs began popping out from the distorted space.
The unidentified monster shifted those disgusting eyeballs around to look at the fleeing knights, the magicians, and finally, us three.
I got a feeling that the creature was trying to smile with those eyeballs, probably thinking that it had found tasty snacks or some such here.
At the same time, something reddish-black rapidly extended out from around the corner.
Alice’s, Hans’s, and my face all hardened in an instant.
That something turned out to be writhing tentacles. It wasn’t just a single one either, but a whole tsunami wave of them!
The tentacles’ tips split open and revealed sharp fangs inside before swallowing up the knights and magicians. The other tentacles used their heavy weight to pulverise their victims into fine meat paste.
The only noise we could hear now was a crunching sound. Not even a single trace of their victims remained.
“It’s the weird ass monster’s turn to show up now?!”
I took aim with my summoned musket.
However, Alice was looking as pale as a sheet of paper after taking a good look at the horrendously repulsive eyeballs and tentacles. Hans was frozen stiff while mechanically backing away from his spot.
The two of them cried out almost at the same time.
“Big Eyes!”
“Eh? What are you…?”
Just before I could finish my question, the reddish-black tentacles suddenly bunched up into one. They morphed into a snake-like figure and then split open its mouth area before pouncing on us.
What the heck? Did it not have any fixed shape or something?
“Stop that thing.”
My holy skeletons jumped up and thrust their spears forward.
The deadly weapons easily pierced through the creature’s hide, blowing it apart.
Demonic energy flooded out from the pierced body parts and flung my skeletons away. The monster’s wounds rapidly regenerated at a visible pace.
My attacks contained plenty of divinity, yet the tentacle monster easily withstood them.
For my next attack, I took aim with my musket and fired it.
The holy projectile scythed through the air and penetrated straight through the tentacle monster’s ‘body’.
-…?
The monster writhed and cocked its head in confusion, only for it to blow apart in a straight line and disintegrate from this world.
-Ki-hihihihihi!
That bizarre cackle was now coming from seemingly everywhere.
I shifted my gaze over to the walls.
The bricks making up the wall should’ve been hard and tough, yet the gap between them seemed to melt and twist before another huge eyeball popped up in there.
Dude… I can legit boast about my nerves of steel being tougher than most people, but even I couldn’t help but shudder at this sight.
I frowned a bit and quickly attached the bayonet to the end of the musket before impaling the eyeball.
It seemed to ‘die’ for a moment, but then, dozens more eyeballs floated out of the walls at the same time.
“…F*ck me.”
The walls began falling down and more tentacles broke through the falling debris.
I stepped back and let the holy skeletons cut down the approaching tentacles.
“We need to run away from here!” Hans shouted out with a deeply-pale face.
He knew that I was capable of hunting down a dragon. But even then, he said we gotta escape from here.
Are you telling me that this thing, whatever it was, was more dangerous than a legendary dragon?
Hans hurriedly pulled out a handful of medicine bottles from his luggage and then scattered their contents on the floor.
The floor itself began writhing and wriggling like a living entity.
Hans gasped out. “I knew it…!”
I asked him, “You know something about this monster?”
“Yes, and we need to flee from here right now! If we don’t, this whole place will turn into its…”
“Watch out!”
Alice’s hand shot out, grabbed Hans’s head, and shoved it down to the floor. With nary a gap to spare, a tentacle with a bladed tip brushed past where his head used to be.
Alice punched with her divinity-laden fist and blew that tentacle apart. She then finished what Hans wanted to say while keeping his head down, “This entire castle will turn into its belly. The Big Eyes is an ancient gatekeeper, a demon that transforms its surrounding environment into its stronghold!”
“…Huh.”
I took a look at the tentacle’s exploded flesh that Alice had punched to oblivion just now.
The exploded tentacle chunks ballooned up and gradually tainted the surroundings.
Holy sh*t. It was like staring at an alien’s nest in some Sci-Fi horror movie.
Hans spoke up while holding his head, “Lady Alice is correct. If we fail to escape from this building in time, we’ll end up being trapped inside its body and gradually get digested. That’s why…”
Right at that moment, the floor below his feet caved in.
Tentacles shot out and grabbed both Alice and Hans’s legs before dragging them down.
“Dammit!”
I reached out and grabbed Alice, and then tried to grab Hans with my other hand.
“Save me…!”
But I missed his extended hand by a hair’s breadth.
Hans and his despair-laden face was sucked into the darkness of the ground below.
“Go and rescue him!”
My holy skeletons threw themselves into the open gap in the floor. Almost at the same time, more tentacles erupted out to blanket the broken ground.
I began firing indiscriminately on the floor with my musket. The holy bullets penetrated through the tentacles and punctured several holes, but they were filled back up only after a couple of moments later.
“What the eff is up with this damn monster…?!”
My holy bullets had no effect whatsoever.
Even if the tentacles’ surface burnt away, other tentacles simply increased their volume and filled up the void.
Would Hans be alright?
He’s a lucky son of a gun, and my skeletons went after him as well, so… he should be able to hold on for some time.
But I couldn’t dilly-dally here.
Which meant that I needed to kill this monster before Hans loses his life.
“Lord Allen!”
Alice cried out at me.
I urgently turned my head around and saw a whole bunch of tentacles rushing out from the corner up ahead. All sorts of undead creatures were also mixed in among them.
Seriously?! Just what the hell is this monster?!
I extracted Amon’s skull from my item window. While putting on the mountain goat’s skull, I could only furrow my brows in unhappiness.
I just wanted to enjoy my vacation. My plan was to enjoy the simple pleasures of being an adventurer and create some fond memories to reminisce later down the line, but this…
Who the f*ck is behind this sh*t?! Who dares to interrupt my vacation time?!
I don’t know who you are, but know this…
“I’m gonna utterly crush you.”
I shouted out the activation phrase.
**
(TL: In 3rd person POV.)
“Yes, we finally did it!”
“The Big Eyes has been successfully summoned. Although it can’t go outside, as long as it’s here, no one can stop the opening of purgatory!”
The doorway to purgatory was opening up.
Most of the survivors inside the castle had already become the Big Eyes’ meal by now. The demon’s body would expand according to the amount it had devoured, while regenerating itself from any damage inflicted on it.
Meanwhile, the seemingly infinite walking dead was streaming out from the warp gate connected to purgatory. They would soon convert this fiefdom of Elusha into a city of death.
The souls of the people getting killed were sucked into purgatory, becoming an energy source that maintained the warp gate. With this arrangement in place, the infinite loop of death would continue on and on.
“And now… we can die.”
They had been longing for this day.
A world where no one suffered. A world where everyone could ‘live on’ forever!
A world where everyone was equal before mighty death itself!
This was the Necromancer King’s long-held wish becoming reality at the moment!
“Ohh, our lord, Necromancer King Amon! We have finally done it!”
As the Necromancers began revelling in pure bliss in the corridors, they suddenly heard a strange noise reverberating all around them.
They flinched in surprise and turned their heads in the direction of that sound’s origin.
Someone was walking up to them from the section of the castle that the Big Eyes had already devoured.
Bright light was coming out from that direction.
Every time this person took a step, waves of divinity spread out ruthlessly. The ripples of divinity blew apart the tentacles attached to the walls and completely purified them out of existence.
The Necromancers swallowed back nervous saliva at the truly enormous waves of divinity they sensed.
Who could it be? Who was capable of unleashing this much divinity?
Could it be that an archbishop decided to personally step up?
The Necromancers grew really tense and tightly gripped their staves.
As cold sweat drops trickled down their faces, they focused their demonic energy into their staves. However, what appeared next made them doubt their own eyes.
“Uh? Huh…?!”
“H-hang on a second here.”
The eyes of the Necromancers nearly popped out of their sockets. They then began stumbling back in shock and confusion.
The existence leisurely walking up to them while radiating bright light, he was…
“Ah…”
Their jaws dropped to the floor.
The being they served and worshipped fifty years ago was currently walking towards them.
That being had descended back to the living plain with a mountain goat’s skull on his head, bone armour covering his entire figure, plus a ‘greatsword’ crafted out of bones gripped in his hand.
Their master from the past.
The king of death that ruled over countless evil spirits and commanded them to march forward…
“It, it’s the Necromancer King!”
“L-Lord Amon has returned!”
“The Necromancer King has made his glorious descent!”
How could there be such a miracle? How was it even possible?
The existence that personified their lifelong dreams and hopes had appeared right before their eyes.
The Necromancers broke down emotionally and began approaching the figure.
Not even once did they entertain the idea of using magic to attack him. They simply fell to their knees, reached out with their hands, and cried out their exaltations.
“Oh! Oh! Dear Necromancer King! Ah, aaaah! Our dear master!”
“We… we did our best to bring your dream into reality!”
“This world is being transformed into a land of death, my lord! No, it’s changing to death itself! The world without suffering, the world where everyone is equal, the world you desired to create, it’s finally…!”
The Necromancers raised one hell of a commotion. So much so that one might be tempted to believe that the Necromancer King had really escaped from purgatory as well.
Their ‘master’ finally showed some reaction to their clamouring.
“Kasim.”
A heavy yet soft murmur resounded out.
The Necromancers flinched in surprise and looked up at the ‘Necromancer King Amon’.
A soul of a hulking man briefly appeared behind the figure covered in bone armour, before rapidly getting sucked into the massive greatsword.
Then, Necromancer King Amon raised this huge weapon up.
“M-master…?”
Even then, the Necromancers couldn’t quite understand what Amon was trying to do. They simply watched on with stupefaction.
That was their end.
The greatsword was pulled back before being thrust forward.
The air exploded and every single Necromancer around him was ripped apart into tiny pieces.
“…!”
The other Necromancers who were rushing towards this location in happiness froze up in their spots some distance away.
‘Amon’ slammed his greatsword on the floor and spoke up, “Do you wish for death?”
Ripples of divinity rapidly enveloped the greatsword.
Holy water began trickling out from the floor the blade had stabbed into and soaked the surroundings.
“If that’s what you want, then…”
The Big Eyes’ tentacles withered instantly before being extinguished altogether.
Meanwhile, wind gathered around him and began compressing tightly.
The Necromancer King’s eyes gleamed sharply underneath the skull.
“…Then, let me give you all the gift of death.”
Wind exploded out and the formless blades pounced on the confused Necromancers.
< 117. Big Eyes -2 > Fin.
