Chapter 136: From Switching to Commencement (2/2)

Instead of Shayna’s unfamiliar tone, the tone of voice that reached Lapis’ ears was familiar.

“Loren-san?!”

He had stopped as his expression changed. Lapis saw their pursuers approaching him from behind and raised her voice in warning. But Loren had already raised his greatsword with both hands and swung it around with a roar. The blade cut deeply into the trees around them and slightly into the torso of the approaching man without stopping. The body was slashed into two, blood and flesh spread around.

Seeing the clothed upper half body being cut off from the naked lower half body, the pursuers didn’t even flinch. They started leaping at Loren with the momentum of their run. But trying to grab at Loren, who was wielding a sword, while they were barehanded, was just a mad attempt.

“Come on!”

Loren slashed the sword upwards and cut one of the men into two from crotch to head in a straight line. He pulled the sword back and split another man into two again, from head to crotch this time. The two severed parts of the corpse slowly fell to left and right while Loren emerged in the middle, leaning forward with a violent shake while being showered in blood.

Thinking that Loren’s losing his stance was a good opportunity, the other men rushed in with increased vigor. But despite the unstable stance, he still swung the greatsword with his right hand; those on the path of his blade have their upper body torn off, making the cross-section of their bodies visible. The bodies were cut into halves and fell away.

New fountains of blood spayed in the air and Loren, having lost his balance, fell to his knees. Lapis rushed up to him, but he raised a hand to stop her.

“Loren! You’re still under its effect… This is not good, please change places with Shayna!”

It seemed like Loren’s mind was still being influenced by some force hiding in this forest. Lapis immediately realized that in order to fight, he had forcibly used the battle’s tension to trick himself. If this continued, his mind would be deeply affected by this phenomenon.

But he ignored Lapis’ advice and didn’t switch places with Shayna.

“I can’t let someone who’s not used to killing, kill. Unlike magic and such, the feeling stays on your hands.”

No matter how inhuman an existence she had now become, Shayna had originally been a very young girl. No matter how desperate the situation was, making such a young girl feel the blade cutting through flesh and bones and smell the stench of blood was… And Loren could still remember the repulsion he had felt when taking away another person’s life with his own hands.

“Leave it to me. I will try to keep my sanity until it all ends.”

“And after it all ends…”

“If I become mad, run. Or…”

Loren took a quick glance at Lapis’ face, then immediately returned his eyes to the enemies in front of them and fixed his grip on the sword.

“Deal with me in any way suitable then. I won’t hold any grudges, I think.”

“Such things…”

Lapis wanted to say that she wouldn’t be able to do that, but before the words came out, Loren had stepped forward.

He swung the sword that had been resting on his shoulder downwards, and the head that received its direct hit was crushed into pieces and scatter in all directions.

Loren cluck his tongue at that.

He had been able to cut one man into half with a single stroke of his sword before, but now he could only smash them. This meant he wasn’t in good shape, and couldn’t control his mind or body as he wanted. Loren had realized that he had just used brute force to smash the head rather than slicing it.

The headless body was still standing and swaying on the same spot as if it couldn’t be stopped. Loren gave it a kick and turned his eyes to another prey. But he could feel his vision flickered for a moment, and grinned his teeth.

Breathing in the air thick with the stench of blood and mixed with that sickeningly sweet scent made Loren’s consciousness turn hazy.

[‘Onii-san! Don’t overdo it and just switch with me, please!’]

Shayna spoke to him, but he didn’t pay it attention. He asked her for a favor instead: Using Energy Drain, the ability of a King of the Death, to supply him with power.

Shayna didn’t question what he planned to do; she just immediately sucked up magic power and life force from the pursuers and the trees and poured it into Loren.

Feeling the power flowing into himself, Loren tried to drag out the sensation caused by the phenomenon, something he hadn’t been able to do by himself.

“It doesn’t even sway at this level… It just coats over the fight in my head.”

As if to give himself a hint, Loren only focused on the enemies swarming before his eyes and the greatsword he was holding. Right now, only these two things were important; nothing else was. He drove all other thoughts out of his mind and only focused on fighting.

“I won’t…. let you do it!”

In a corner of Loren’s roaring mind, the feeling resurrected. Something clicked and Loren, feeling the clinking sound of it, lifted the corners of his mouth to form a ferocious smile.