I Obtained the Final Boss' Power

Chapter 9 : Humans Worse Than Monsters (2)

Humans Worse Than Monsters (2)

You must not treat monsters like mere beasts.

Their way of thinking is simply different from humans, and they possess intelligence as well.

Their intelligence increases as they evolve, and in the end, they may even become comparable to humans.

In other words, until they evolve, they fall short of human standards. In fact, the first lizards the soldiers encountered had very straightforward attack patterns.

But the evolved form of these creatures, the Middle Lizards, are different.

Their strength and speed are on another level, and their intelligence has increased overwhelmingly.

Though not quite at human level, they can at least use cunning. That's why they were able to come up with the idea of setting up traps.

However, since their brains are still inferior to humans, they set their traps in strange places.

Naturally, this makes sense: the traps aren't intended for humans, but for monsters like themselves.

The ratio of monsters to humans around here is overwhelmingly in favor of monsters.

Of course, they had no choice but to create traps targeting monsters.

It would be impossible for a human to get caught in one by common sense.

"Wahaha! This is a sea of life~"

That's why what was happening now was so horrific. A human had fallen into a trap meant only for monsters.

― Kyaaaaah!!

Middle Lizards shrieked as they descended from crevices in the wall.

Even in this dire situation, Sasha continued to enjoy swimming through the piles of bone.

"This is heaven!"

"You crazy bastard! How is this heaven to you!!"

"Just look around!"

Soldiers collectively lashed out in anger at Sasha, who still hadn't grasped the situation.

Not only had she created this disaster, but seeing her so thrilled drove them mad.

Honestly, what kind of person would dive headfirst into a pile of skulls?

Sasha's thinking was that different from any ordinary human.

"Huh?"

At that moment, a gigantic shadow fell over Sasha's head. Lost in bliss, she looked up belatedly, but it was already too late.

Crunch!-

One Middle Lizard stamped Sasha underfoot.

With a jolt, skulls scattered through the air and red blood splattered out.

It looked like a dinosaur squashing a human, and the soldiers recoiled in horror.

"Damn it!"

Soon, middle Lizards were blocking the entrance as well. They swarmed from every direction—there was no way to escape.

"F*ck! F*ck! F*ck! F*ck!!"

It was Sasha, a member of Kelton's squad, who had created this situation.

Overcome by frustration, Kelton burst out.

No matter how wretched these soldiers were, they were still people.

Who could have imagined anyone would dive into that bone-filled basket?

Everyone had looked away, thinking "No way."

They at least believed she was human, but she wasn't.

"Damn you, Sasha! Go to hell, you monster wearing a human mask!!"

"Hey, Kelton! Now what do we do?"

"What do you mean, what do we do!"

Face flushed with rage, Kelton drew his sword and shouted.

"If you want to live, then fight, you bastards!! If not, you'll die by my hand!"

There were more monsters than expected.

It was obvious that Odun and Kelton would collapse from exhaustion even after taking them down together.

Soon, a higher-rank monster would return to its nest. They might arrive while fighting these creatures.

"At this rate...!"

"S-Squad leader?"

Kelton grabbed his squad member's shoulder. Confused for a moment, the squad member was suddenly hurled toward the monster.

Because of Kelton's brute strength, the squad member screamed as he flew.

The lizard casually swept its arm, swatting the human aside like an obstacle, and the upper half of the squad member's body was torn apart.

Slice!-

Taking the opportunity, Kelton leapt forward and beheaded the lizard with swordsmanship infused with aura.

Kelton's plan was simple and brutal.

"Anyone who doesn't fight from now on will end up like this! Got it!!"

Terrified by Kelton's furious shout, the soldiers shuddered. They realized they were just bait to kill the monsters.

It was absurd, but there was no way to escape. There were only two choices: die by Kelton, or die by the monsters.

"Ugh... Aaaaaaah!!"

One panicked soldier lunged at the monster, thinking what did he have to lose?

He'd managed to kill a low-rank lizard earlier, so maybe it would work.

Crack!-

But their swords couldn't cut through the Middle Lizards' scales.

It just felt like scraping a hard chunk of iron. The soldier was eaten, and at the same time, Odun's sword aura beheaded the lizard.

"If we keep this up, we might be able to take them all down within the time limit!"

With bait, they could fight while saving as much strength as possible. Under these circumstances, they could swiftly subjugate the monsters.

"Squad leader, please spare me... Aaargh!!"

Odun flung a squad member clinging to him right toward a monster.

As the creature chomped down—Crunch!—Odun beheaded it, too.

The soldiers didn't stand a chance against the monsters.

Some tried to use the tactic from fighting low-rank lizards: blocking with shields, then attacking.

But the monsters' casual swipes crushed guards and shields alike.

The speed of their attacks was nothing like the low-rank lizards' tongues.

The soldiers were destined to be trampled just like bugs underfoot.

"You people...!! Are you really going this far?"

"Shut up."

"Gah!"

Kelton stabbed a soldier without mercy and threw him among the lizards.

Not very intelligent, the monsters dove after the flying corpse like dogs after food.

"Dieeeeee!!"

With a loud yell, Kelton cut down monsters that had gathered around the bait in an instant.

Thanks to them being distracted, it was easy.

Their strength and numbers were troublesome, but as long as there was bait, there was nothing to fear.

Kelton saw no reason to hesitate in sacrificing the soldiers. He'd learned this from Sasha's earlier example.

They were just bait—worthless for anything else.

"You, come here!!"

Kelton fixed his eyes on the next bait, snarling.

"Huh?"

Louis, chosen as bait, was kicked by Kelton and rolled among the monsters.

― Kyaaaak!

A lizard joyfully gobbled up what had rolled its way.

Was his name Louis?

He'd originally been Odun's target, but it hardly mattered now.

As the monster smacked its lips, Kelton wrapped his blade in aura.

Crunch!-

At that moment, the lizard's head that had swallowed Louis exploded. But Kelton hadn't swung his sword yet.

What happened?

Had the lizard swallowed a bomb?

Something crawled out of the monster's lifeless, suddenly decapitated body.

It was none other than Louis, who should have been devoured.

"How can you just throw me without warning? My clothes were already filthy enough."

He emerged from between chunks of flesh, unscathed.

Even though the monster had chewed him up, Louis hadn't a scratch, and Kelton was appalled.

"What the...."

Even for a knight whose body was enhanced, one bite like that would be fatal.

But Louis had smashed the monster's head from the inside and crawled out.

"What are you?"

"Hm?"

"I said, what the hell are you, you bastard!!"

Dodging Oden's Crescent Slash—and now this as well.

Kelten's mind was in complete turmoil because of Louis.

In the end, he made a mistake you shouldn't make in the middle of combat.

"Shit!"

Right then, Louis suddenly ducked his head. Was he finally apologizing? While Kelton misunderstood, he didn't notice at all.

A lizard's tail was swinging toward him.

"Gah!"

Kelton took the whip-like tail blow straight on. With a thud, his back bent like a bow, and he was launched into the wall.

"Ugh...."

"Kelton!!"

Having let his guard down and been struck by the monster's tail, Kelton crashed into the wall and showed no sign of getting up.

Had it been an ordinary human, the body would have burst in one hit.

Only because he was a knight fortified with magic power did Kelton survive.

"Damn it!!"

Now, with Kelton unable to fight, the situation had worsened drastically.

The monsters were only manageable if he and Odun fought together.

"Graaaah!!"

"Help!!"

Even without using them as bait, soldiers were getting picked off one after another.

There were only three soldiers left.

There was no way to break through, even by throwing them as bait.

While swinging his sword amidst this confusion, Odun was caught by a monster's claw.

"Shit...!"

The crushing grip was no joke.

Odun dropped his sword in agony, totally helpless and filled with frustration.

"Damn it aaaaaah!!!"

The monster holding him opened its mouth wide. Beyond that darkness seemed a direct gateway to the underworld.

Was this the end? Why? What did he do wrong?

He just wanted to live a life without stress. For that, he just had to torment people a little.

What's so wrong with that? Maybe it hurt others, but for his life, that was the only way.

He didn't want to die like this. Odun pleaded inwardly, but the monster didn't stop.

Just as he was about to be swallowed into the endless darkness—

Slashhhhh!!-

Suddenly, the monster's upper body was torn in half. Odun dropped to the ground, landing on his backside.

"Wh-what is this?"

He was alive? Did he survive? Why did this monster die all of a sudden?

It looked more like it had been torn like paper than cut with a blade.

Could someone have ripped it apart by brute force?

Who?

With what strength?

There couldn't be any soldier or knight in the stronghold with that kind of power, right?

"Are you alright, sponsor?"

Someone brushed the monster's corpse aside and approached.

Seeing the face of the one who'd just killed the monster, Odun's jaw dropped.

"L-Louis?"

Louis approached slowly and reached a hand out to Odun. Had he really saved him?

"Don't tell me... you did this?"

It was unbelievable. A mere soldier, a twelve-year-old boy, had just torn a mid-rank monster apart with his bare hands.

'What the hell is with this guy?'

Even his monstrous power was unexplainable. And there was another thing Odun couldn't understand.

"What have you got to gain by saving me...?"

Soldiers who'd just been tortured wouldn't be friendly to their officer.

If anything, they'd be more likely to leave him to die. Especially Louis, whom Odun had forced into this expedition to get rid of.

"You're my valued sponsor, big bro!"

"Sponsor?"

What nonsense... well, it didn't matter, did it? Survival was more important now.

To finish off the remaining monsters, Odun was about to take Louis's hand.

Boom!-

Suddenly, something crashed through the cave ceiling and landed.

As it touched down, it swung its arm and killed the last three remaining soldiers.

"Ahh...."

Odun groaned in despair at the newly appeared monster.

A monstrous lizard, bigger than the Middle Lizards, covered in purple scales.

Practically a dragon without wings.

"A higher-rank mon–"

Odun's words were cut off. The monster swept an arm, and Odun's upper body vanished.

"... Eh?"

Odun disappeared like someone had erased him with a rubber, leaving only a hand behind.

At the same time, a spray of blood from the torn-apart body splattered Louis's face.

"Sponsor?"

Soaked in Odun's remains, Louis went completely blank.

He was dumbstruck by the fact that the one officer in the stronghold who'd fervently helped him was gone.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=

It seems Louis is a bit broken, and not in an OP kind of way...

Also, Louis: surprised pikachu face...

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