Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 66: The Public Extermination (3)
Elliot and the other high-ranking knights stared in confusion at the thing before them.
Their training and battle-honed instincts nevertheless allowed them to retreat immediately and assume defensive stances.
“What in the world…!”
“Be careful! This also appears to be an undead beast!”
A cleric who was standing nearby warned, while deploying a barrier.
Hearing this, the senior knights hurriedly purified their swords with spare holy water.
Elliot stood there, wide-eyed.
—An undead beast? This? The last one wasn’t the end?
Count Agreas’s advance information had mentioned nothing of the kind.
—How can I fight this without the holy sword?
His heart lurched sickeningly, and cold crossed his spine.
“Elliot, purify your sword too.”
Lloyd whispered out of concern for watching ears. A hand on Elliot’s shoulder restored his senses, and he hurriedly poured holy water over the replica.
The sudden monster distracted everyone from this small action, which was Elliot’s one piece of fortune. His fingers shook terribly.
The replica merely resembled the holy sword, its dim glow produced by a sorcerer’s spell.
A crash like collapsing masonry drew his gaze. A giant reddish-black tentacle smashed part of the VIP stands.
“His Majesty is there! Take defensive positions!”
Someone among the upper-ranked knights shouted, and they began to move. However, everyone was confused and hesitant in their actions.
“Defend how? Where’s its head?”
“Is this a large dragon-type undead magical beast…? I can’t see its head very well from here…”
He overhears the confused voices of his companions.
If the tentacle belonged to an enormous undead beast, severing its head should destroy it. But its unprecedented form bred only anxiety.
“For now, let’s draw it away from the VIP seats!”
Senior Knight Marcus shouted as he and several other knights circled around and attempted a threatening attack.
Marcus struck with all his strength. White smoke erupted from his sword, whose tip crumbled away.
“Eh…?!”
“What!? What happened!?”
“This isn’t a dragonlike undead beast! It’s a viscous slime!”
The knights became even more agitated at the sight of the cut part melting into a gooey mess and the state of Marcus’s sword.
“Marcus, your sword… Is that… an iron-eater?”
Half of Marcus’s blade had broken, and reddish-brown corrosion covered the rest. Iron-eating slime was a viscous magical fungus that corroded and consumed iron. It rarely harmed humans directly, but rendered a knight powerless.
“A mass of iron-eating slime became undead? How can we possibly destroy it?”
Marcus and the others looked up at the giant creature with pale faces.
The surface rippled as the undead slime shifted and its giant pillar leaned toward them.
“…Here it comes!”
Not knowing how to respond, the knights readied their swords.
The ground shook again and a smaller mass emerged through the floor. Unable to attack, the knights raised their swords only to defend themselves.
The giant mass, shaped like an earthworm, began to twist and distort, approaching where Elliot and the high-ranking knights were.
From the VIP seats, Emily watched anxiously. Behind her, the king, chancellor, nobles, and wealthy spectators held their breath. Countless commoners were surely watching too.
No swordsman could handle such a creature. Elliot should have retreated without drawing his weapon, but long-ingrained instinct made him take a stance.
“Elliot…!!”
The voice calling Elliot held concern and expectation.
The reddish-black slime split into branches and lowered one toward Elliot. Instinctively he tried to deflect it.
He knew what would happen.
With a hiss like water on hot iron, white smoke rose from the dimly glowing replica.
Corrosion turned the blade reddish brown, then it crumbled and broke.
—Now everything is over.
A despairing cry seemed to echo. Perhaps it was his own.
The loss had been exposed in the worst possible way before an enormous crowd.
The slime liquefied and spread like water, swallowing everything nearby. Trapped in its viscous body, Elliot couldn’t move.
He could barely breathe. In the distant VIP seats, Emily screamed with terror and despair. Count Agreas stood beside her, laughing joyfully.
Despite the distance, Elliot felt as though the count’s grating laughter thundered in his ears.
—I was wrong from beginning to end.
Unable to move, he sank into despair. Perhaps he had long occupied the bottom of that pit, foolishly covering it with lies and pretending not to notice.