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210. The Fox’s Grudge (4)

In an instant, Talema was sent flying a few meters from the punch.

Even while airborne, he managed to regain his stance, but arrows were already flying toward him for the follow-up attack.

“Gah!”

Talema swiftly grabbed the incoming aura arrow.

Just as he showcased his remarkable reflexes, Luska had already positioned herself behind him.

“Heh, enjoying yourself, are you?”

Boom!—

He barely blocked the punch coming from behind.

The tremendous recoil caused Talema to slide back several meters, scraping against the ground.

Smoke was rising from the arm that he had raised to guard.

‘What the hell is going on?’

Suddenly, Luska’s actions became faster.

More precisely, her perception seemed to sharpen.

It felt as though she was predicting our movements in advance.

In fact, hadn’t she just claimed to be able to see her future?

“How can you keep moving after taking a hit like that?”

Talema said, blood dripping from his arm.

Luska picked up his severed arm and chuckled.

“Why? Surprised that a mere student would be this tough?”

Honestly, even if it weren’t Talema, other strong individuals would be astonished.

It’s rare to find someone unscathed by attacks equivalent to high-tier magic at that age.

The only ones thought to be capable of such feats are Meiri Ryu-Diezel and Princess Mirona.

“If it were the old me, that might be true, but I’m a little different now.”

Luska remembered that day.

The moment she had reverted Angela, who had transformed into a nine-tailed fox, to her original form, is when it all began.

When the King Talema suddenly appeared, declaring he would take Angela away, she felt totally powerless.

If it hadn’t been for that unknown demon showing up, Angela would have been gone by now.

The news of Talema’s return sent chills down her spine.

There was a real possibility of that time repeating itself.

“You may not remember, but back then, you were missing limbs. Seeing that made me feel vindicated, but… I couldn’t take any action myself, leaving me with a bitter feeling.”

“Missing limbs…?”

Talema gazed at his severed arm.

At the same time, as he alternated glances between his leg and the arm, a headache began to twinge.

“Guh…!”

He was a corpse. He shouldn’t feel any physical pain.

But what was this throbbing in his head? It was definitely not physical pain.

This was… merely the influence of forgotten memories trying to resurface.

“Could it be…?”

“I’ve kept up with your news. I know how you’ve lived since going missing during the Nine-Tailed Fox Incident.”

With one arm and leg lost, he was finished both as a king and a martial artist.

It was said that, due to the trauma from that demon, he suffered nightmares every day.

So much so that those who dared approach him could only hear screams.

“Is it… fear?”

He instinctively sensed what he had endured in life.

He realized what state he was in just before death. That’s why Talema was terrified now.

“I’ve heard that corpses recall their memories just before dying.”

“Ugh…!”

“Then what should I do?”

He must not die.

His body screamed not to recall those memories.

He had to kill the opponent to ensure his survival.

“Do you think I’ll let that happen?!”

Talema charged forward, veins bulging.

First, he needed to forcibly recover his severed arm.

As long as he quelled the energy source in his body, he could restore the severed parts at any time.

Talema used a rather unique form of energy compared to other corpses.

Swish!—

Luska threw the severed arm she held toward him.

Talema, who just happened to focus on it, abruptly halted mid-charge.

And then, he took another punch directly to the face from Luska.

Boom!—

“Grah!”

Talema flew back again, grabbing the arm that had fallen to the ground.

He immediately began regenerating the arm, but it didn’t feel good at all.

“Aren’t you already whining? Don’t corpses not feel pain?”

That fox-like girl, though I don’t remember her well, I just can’t stand her.

It felt like it would ease my frustration to kill her painfully.

Pah!—

The moment the arm reattached, he charged at high speed.

Talema vanished from sight.

Even without his sword, he’d take her down with just his fists.

`Die!`

Indeed, his reflexes and experience were superior here.

In an instant, he moved behind her, aiming to pierce her heart with his claws.

His claws, reinforced with aura, aimed for her back.

Smack!—

But Luska sensed his approach, dodging his claws and counterattacking.

Surrounded by aura, Luska’s fist struck his abdomen.

Talema screamed again as he was sent flying.

The flesh on his abdomen was completely obliterated.

“Not again…!”

While he felt no pain, Talema grimaced.

Just like before, Luska’s evasive maneuvers had become much more skillful.

He had struggled to grasp the flow of battle earlier, but now it was as if she anticipated his every move.

As a result, there was no change in her expression even while dodging.

“I told you; I see your future.”

“Is that true?”

It’s indeed true that the Yokhu tribe has outstanding senses, but seeing even a moment ahead is extraordinary.

How far does her talent go?

At this point, she was no longer at a level to be called a student.

Moreover, she was in a state of explosive growth due to the full moon.

`As if her resilience wasn’t troublesome enough.`

She was not only hard to kill, but her evasion rate had skyrocketed.

It felt like giving wings to a tiger.

And there was another infuriating aspect.

`By the way, how did she change the weather?!`

Diablo Rain had ceased, and now it was the middle of the night with a full moon.

In the heat of battle, he had forgotten, but it was all very mysterious.

“Oh, and don’t let your guard down.”

“What?”

While briefly lost in thought, something hooked onto his back.

Was it a small thread? No, it looked more like a fishing line with a hook.

At that moment, it yanked sharply, pulling something from his body.

“Oh, no!”

What the hook snatched away was a piece of burning paper.

Talema, who had just lost that crucial item, looked utterly despondent as if he had faced the despair of life itself.

“Looks like this was what kept you afloat.”

The one who snatched it was Radon Crawler.

He gazed in admiration at the flames he had reeled in with his fishing rod.

“You punk! Hand that over now!”

“I told you not to let your guard down!”

Boom!—

As Talema charged at Radon, Luska blocked him and delivered a kick.

Talema rolled on the ground from the swift kick.

But Luska was also curious about that.

“What is that?”

“To put it simply, it’s the driving force behind him.”

A blue flame roared from the paper.

It didn’t feel hot at all, making it all the more mysterious.

“Why don’t we talk in detail after we finish him off?”

Under Radon’s feet were countless corpses littered across the ground.

It seemed he had taken down all of them during their battle with Talema.

While Luska herself had sustained many injuries fighting a few, Radon had taken care of most of them.

“Are you okay?”

“Hmm, I’m not sure if I am…”

Of course, Radon was also injured quite severely.

He sat down, bleeding from his head after facing all that chaos.

But he was definitely not in any life-threatening condition.

“See? Once you’re taken care of, it’ll be over.”

“Ugh!”

Having lost his driving force, the Eternal Flame, he was left crippled.

It’s much better than simply infusing magic power, providing him better energy for a longer period.

But now that it was gone, Talema was left with only the residual heat from the flames to barely move.

He had to take her down before that last heat faded away.

But—

`Can I win?`

It was hard to land a hit on that girl who could see her future.

He could manage to hit her once, but it was no doubt she would get back up again.

Talema’s state was too precarious to solve those two conundrums.

`My bones shattered from that last attack…!`

Having lost the flames, he couldn’t restore his body.

It wasn’t impossible, but if he did so, he would exhaust all his energy and be unable to move.

If his leg broke, it wouldn’t be able to heal, leaving him unable to walk—a worst-case scenario.

‘First, I’ll have to escape…!’

Taking her down before the heat vanished was out of the question.

Ultimately, Talema had to turn his back and sprint desperately.

He had long since shed any glory or pride from his past.

Scrape!—

“Gah!”

Suddenly, Talema stumbled and fell to the ground with a thud.

A strange sound echoed; it turned out his leg had been severed.

“Now you’re even running away?”

“Eek!”

“How pathetic. I can’t believe I ever thought of you as a nightmare.”

Though he was different from before, some essence of his nature remained.

He moved based on that lurking instinct as a corpse.

Now returned to life and showing a form even beneath what one could imagine, Luska felt great disgust.

Talema felt chills run down his spine from her vicious glare.

‘Think! How would the old me have handled this?!’

He would take a significant person from his opponent hostage.

This was the most groundbreaking method, but it seemed there was no one useful around.

He spotted one person he presumed would be closest to her.

“What are you looking at?”

Radon Crawler glared back, visibly upset.

Talema felt a strange sense while watching her talk to Radon.

It was as though the girl mixed her habits of speaking with emotion toward the man.

Instinctively, he realized Radon was important to her.

`But how…!`

He couldn’t draw that boy Radon in this direction.

His legs were severed and unable to move, and even if he could, Luska would obviously intervene.

‘Think! Think! Think!’

The fear of death loomed over him.

He could see a beastly nine-tailed fox approaching with its teeth bared in wrath.

Get a grip. That’s no monster; that’s a human.

A frail human. A pathetic human.

Such an inferior race couldn’t transcend commonsense.

Instead of possessing strengths, they surely only had weaknesses…!

‘Hehehe! That’s it!’

Amidst the unfavorable situation, Talema raised the corners of his mouth.

Luska, who had been approaching with a fierce demeanor, narrowed her brow at that smile.

Then, in an instant, Talema’s face and clothing transformed.

“Uh…?”

It was no longer Talema; it was Radon Crawler.

The same Combat Department student and roommate.

And the one man tied to his life.

“Go ahead and kill me if you can.”

This was one of the abilities he acquired upon resurrecting as a corpse.

Since Leyra, who had returned to life with him, wandered around the village with this ability, Talema could do the same.

After all, this ability could enable him to infiltrate the Tactical Martial Arts department incognito.

“You filthy thing…!”

For a moment, Luska hesitated, raising her dual-wield sword.

In that moment of hesitation, Talema was secretly casting a beam spell that pierced everything.

“You fool!”

He reached out to stab Luska’s heart with that spell.

But just as he did, he felt a piercing pain in his hand.

“Huh?”

A giant crow appeared, snatching away his hand.

The crow settled beside Radon, its master.

“What’re you panicking for when the real one is right here?”

“Ugh…”

Luska, for a moment sporting an embarrassed expression, swiftly pierced Talema’s upper body with her sword.

“Gahugh!”

The echo of Talema’s agonized scream rang out.

It wasn’t physical pain but psychological agony that would dredge up horrific memories of his past life.

“You continue to act disgracefully until the very end.”

“Gah…!”

“How utterly vile.”

From that moment on, Talema’s body ceased to move.

Having exhausted all his energy, he lost his physical functionality, now just a corpse that could only move his mouth.

“Oh no!”

In the end, he finally restored the memories of his past life.

The painful process of how he came to die flooded back to him.

“Ah, you’re definitely… the daughter of Ruina…!”

Ruina Mad-Eye.

A knight tasked with his right arm, but an incompetent woman who was raped by the enemy.

From her came the girl that now stood before him.

So utterly useless was she that she was used as a test subject for a Divine Beast, and thus, the creation known as Angela—the Saint—was born.

“Luska… Mad-Eye!”

Finally, everything came rushing back.

The sheer shock of having been defeated by those who were hardly different from test subjects.

And at the same time, memories of what happened at the hands of that demon assailed him once again.

Once more, just like before, he found himself severed.

“No! Noooooo!!”

Faced with the nightmares of that day, Talema screamed just before disappearing.

 

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