Slaughter and a Second Generation

Strong!

The man known as His Excellency Mercenary Tao was very strong!

Etoris rose swiftly to his feet. Golden Ripples radiated from within his body, lending a faint glimmer to the pale bone spurs on his back.

He stepped in front of Seraphina, fully spreading his massive frame and completely shielding the red-haired girl behind him.

"Lady Seraphina, I’m sorry, I came too late…"

He offered no further explanation. The many monstrous knights of the Hymn Choir had already closed in.

Nearly every one of them, like the Ash Knights, had successfully resisted the initial corrosion of the blood medicine. Yet for power—or for the world His Excellency Lawrence wished to reach—they had willingly consumed massive quantities of it.

Their beastification far surpassed the level of ordinary Mixed-bloods. Every one of them possessed strength close to that of a Second Generation.

And… Etoris knew very well that he was not the only Mixed-blood in the Hymn Choir.

Seraphina looked toward the figure in the air and immediately frowned. The arrogance radiating from him was utterly undisguised.

To her, that bearing was even colder and crueler than His Excellency Lawrence’s.

Before she could think further, scarlet light flared across the ground. As the secret art descended, Etoris swept his tailbone aside, shoving Seraphina away while hurling himself at the Hymn Choir knight wielding a staff.

Each of his strides covered an enormous distance. Now a giant roughly five meters tall, he swung an arm horizontally. Etoris leaped high into the air, gripped his sword in both hands, and slashed down viciously.

Pfft!

Just as blood flashed, another Hymn Choir knight, his body twisted and possessing only one arm, emerged from underground. He clutched an axe blade in that lone arm and brought it down directly at Seraphina.

"Kill it."

A deep male voice rang out. In the next instant, the female knight in black armor raised her black long sword high, and the beastified Hymn Choir knight’s axe blade and neck were severed in one stroke.

Black-red Sword Light swept across the battlefield like a laser beam.

Bzzzz!

It was as though a massive fan blade had swept through the air, scorching magic power radiating cruel killing intent.

Pfft! Pfft! Pfft! Pfft!

The giant’s legs were cut off, while most of the other Hymn Choir knights were cleaved in half at the waist.

Only two of them reacted quickly enough to evade it.

As for the dragonman standing before Bai Cangshu, covered head to toe in silver armor, he merely raised a hand. Intense blood-colored light erupted from his body, and amid his bulging muscles, his entire body took on the luster of bronze.

Clang!

Artoria’s sweeping strike finally stopped before the dragonman.

The Word Spirit Bronze Throne should not have possessed such formidable defensive power. Bai Cangshu raised his head and glanced at the bronze-colored vortex that had fully emerged in the sky.

He had his answer.

The King of Bronze and Fire was about to awaken. Even the power of his bloodline descendants had received varying degrees of enhancement.

But…

"A descendant of a Dragon King, yet reduced to a servant of an ancient god? Ha~"

Bai Cangshu landed on the ground and looked mockingly at the dragonman, whose body could indeed be considered powerful.

With the enhancement of the upgraded Word Spirit, the man’s body had already surpassed that of ordinary Dragon Clan members. At the same time, the beastification caused by using an unknown amount of blood medicine had likewise greatly evolved his flesh and blood.

Even though it was an irrational, disorderly, erroneous evolution, at a sufficient scale, it had still granted this man strength beyond that of most humans, Mixed-bloods, and Hunters in this world.

"Gilbert has only just undergone beastification. Otherwise… you would not have defeated him so easily."

Alice spoke. He was massive, and the scorching breath from his mouth condensed into the air, creating a mist-like sight. After using Bronze Throne to enhance himself, his body now burned like a furnace.

Beneath his scales, his nerves and flesh had fused together. The pain of his reason being scorched made him feel as though he might lose control completely in the very next moment and become a true beast.

Yet in exchange, he possessed power so immense it was almost overflowing!

Alice understood Gilbert’s strength better than anyone. Gilbert was France’s swordmaster, a man who had gained the power to slaughter vast numbers of Mixed-bloods using nothing but a purely human body.

Alice believed that if Gilbert had undergone Blood Therapy earlier, he would not have been weaker than him…

"Oh? You make it sound like you think you’re strong… heh."

A man’s voice sounded beside his ear. Alice was startled. The figure before him dissipated like a bubble, while a tremor he had never felt before rose from the last joint of his tailbone and swept through his entire body in an instant.

He felt every scale on his body tense in a heartbeat. The sound of muscles and joints vibrating burst from every joint in his body like exploding air.

His shoulder sank slightly as a hand landed upon it.

Alice’s eyes widened. The savagery in his golden vertical pupils overwhelmed the last remnants of reason. He abruptly dropped his shoulder, trying to break free of the grip on it, while viciously driving an elbow backward.

The air liquefied before that sheer violence in an instant, like a dented surface of water crashing toward the other man’s body.

Bzzzz!

The moment the depressed liquid surface of air touched the other man’s body, Alice clenched his fist and swung it upward. The air exploded violently.

Blazing White smoke erupted as if a meteor had struck the ground. High heat and Shockwaves swept across a radius of several hundred meters.

No member of the Hymn Choir could have taken the force of that punch. Alice slowly turned around, but in the next moment, a slender hand emerged from the Blazing White high-temperature mist and covered his face directly.

A frivolous male voice drifted from within.

"What, is that all, little dragonman~?"

In the next instant, immense force erupted from that hand. Alice almost immediately felt his skull creaking.

The other man’s physical strength was no weaker than his own. No, the force was burrowing into his body in an eerie manner.

Agonizing pain struck. Alice immediately reached behind his back with his right hand, grabbed the uniquely shaped Claymore, and slashed one-handed at Bai Cangshu.

Clang!

As the sword came down, a strange, distorted force field instantly deflected its path, sending it straight into the ground.

Bai Cangshu, however, had already lost interest in this knight who possessed both Mixed-blood and beastified power.

Though the man’s base physical strength and constitution were comparable to his own, the absolute gap in control over power and technique meant that Bai Cangshu could easily defeat him without using any abilities.

A Martial Artist was inherently best at dueling humanoid enemies one-on-one, especially enemies like this, whose flesh had undergone grotesque evolution.

Alice raised his sword again, but a force struck his wrist first.

Crack!

The fierce force flashed and vanished, concentrated completely at a single point. Even the dragonman’s bones shattered instantly.

Bai Cangshu raised his right arm across his chest, covered in jet-black Armament Haki. In the next moment, three lightning-fast slashes struck the dragonman’s neck with flawless precision.

Crack!

Bang!

Pfft!

A black gleam flashed and vanished. A head spun into the air, and as the dragonman collapsed, the Claymore had not yet hit the ground before Bai Cangshu casually caught it.

You have obtained item: Ludwig's Holy Sword (Extremely Rare)

Bai Cangshu merely glanced at it. This sword was a unique combination of a one-handed sword and a heavy sword. The one-handed sword could be drawn for attacks, while the heavy sword that served as its sheath could also be used to deliver crushing slashes.

In a sense, this sword shared a certain connection with the Black Sword: Dragon Slayer in his Backpack.

Bai Cangshu looked up just in time to see Artoria pull her sword from the giant’s skull. The two of them had almost effortlessly crushed the Hymn Choir.

Etoris had also slain a Hymn Choir knight. He was now drenched in blood, but an excited smile covered his face. He rose and was about to speak, only to see that neither His Excellency Mercenary Tao nor the powerful female knight said a word.

They were only looking behind him.

Seraphina’s expression was filled with terror.

In her eyes, a tall silver-haired woman stood behind Etoris. The two enormous wings on her back, when spread, almost covered a space of nearly a hundred meters.

Dragon Clan!

A living Dragon Clan member!

Pfft!

In the next instant, the woman’s hand pierced straight through Etoris’s chest. She casually tossed this Hymn Choir-level Mixed-blood aside like discarded trash. He crashed to the ground, blood spurting everywhere.

"Human, hand over that woman. Do not offer meaningless resistance."

Seraphina’s face turned pale. They were here for her again. She did not understand what was happening, but she immediately rushed toward Etoris, whose body had begun to convulse.

She pressed the wrist that had been cut open earlier against Etoris’s chest. Her blood dripped into his chest cavity, which had nearly been torn apart completely.

The silver-haired woman looked in confusion at this unusual woman who could determine the world’s course. She could not understand why, at such a moment, Seraphina was still saving such a meaningless mongrel.

Whether a Mixed-blood of that level lived or died was of no use to the world.

With a beat of her wings, the woman appeared before Seraphina as though teleporting. She reached out for the red-haired girl’s neck.

But in the next instant, a hand gripped her wrist.

The woman looked up and met a pair of cold, indifferent eyes.

"Who gave you permission to lay hands on what’s mine?"

The woman frowned. Anger gradually surfaced as she saw that her hand had actually been touched by a human. She then opened her mouth, and flames surged forth in an instant.

Bai Cangshu opened his mouth as well, lightning bursting from within his body.

Artoria moved to shield Seraphina and Etoris.

World-Shaking Thunder Roar!

"Ha!"

Heaven and earth suddenly blazed bright, followed by a terrifying explosion that swallowed everything.