Chapter 230: Sounds Like Victory (2/2)
”She did it! We just need to deliver the final blow!” Sera exclaimed while pointing to the prone figure still lying motionless in the coagulating pool of muck. ”One stab through the heart should put an end to it.”
Mike looked over at Lily and Brenden, noting that they were covered in nasty looking burns that would need his attention before long. While one of them could probably finish it off, he felt like it might be asking a lot of them when he was perfectly capable of doing so.
He walked over to the monster, taking care to use the most solid portions of the puddle. Unfortunately, he still ended up with his boots full of the squishy and disturbingly warm substance. Wanting to get this over with, he swiftly lined up for a thrust, and was prepared to drive his spear home, when he noticed that the monster had changed once more.
While it was still a hairless bundle of flesh roughly approximating a humanoid form, it now had discernible facial features, and to his horror, Mike realized that he recognized that face. Not wanting to believe his eyes, he used Appraise on it once more.
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Anton Barthelemus Unther
Age: 47
Race: Abomination
Class: Abomination
Title: Traitor to Humanity
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A wave of nausea surged through him as he read the name of the Branch Manager of the Mayde Adventurer's Guild.
”What the hell...? He muttered as he stared down at the man's sightless eyes.
”What are you waiting for?! Kill it before Tal's spell wears off! You don't have much longer!” Sera yelled from her vantage.
He opened his mouth to give an explanation, but stopped, uncertain of what he should do. [Do I try to heal him? Can I even fix this? Judging by that title, he is at least partly responsible for what happened to him. So, does he even deserve to be spared?]
While he was deliberating, the flesh of Anton's body twitched, and then began to writhe and swell. At the same time, the Branch Manager's face twisted into a rictus of agony, mouth wrenched open in a silent scream. Whatever was happening was clearly torturous.
Sera yelled again, an edge of panic in her voice. ”Its breaking free! Kill it now!”
[Screw it.]
With a roar, Mike slammed his spear through the Anton's chest, punching through the area where a heart should be, and pinning him to the ground. The man locked eyes with him, a look of dawning comprehension on his face. He gave a relieved sigh, mouth curving into a smile, before falling lifelessly back to the ground. After a few seconds, what remained of his body started to disintegrate, quickly joining the rest of the decaying sludge.
Mike was still staring down a the pool when the soldiers on the wall broke out into cheering.
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”It looks like we're a bit late.” The creature known as Grim commented as the experimental subject was finally put down. It was standing openly on a hillock a few dozen meters away from the site of the battle, but didn't fear being spotted. On the contrary, it would have given it an excellent excuse to prey upon the tired group which had dispatched its creation.
Alas, its passive stealth skills proved to effective, and it was left to watch from afar as Agony was killed.
”Still, what a surprise? To think that we'd find her here, in the company of the false Dragonknight.” It muttered excitedly as its inhuman gaze fastened on the Oracle. ”The ultimate research material...”
”Do...not...forget...the...others...” A voice hissed from Grim's robes, near what would have been a waist on a human figure.
”Yes, yes.” The creature replied while gently patting its robes in a soothing manner. ”She's surrounded herself with quite the selection of promising subjects. We're especially looking forward to dissecting the one with giant blood. Such straightforward enhancement of one's abilities would be a great help when designing different abominations. Perhaps they'd lack the same kind of adaptability our current generation has, but they will make up for it in potency.”
”Need...Oracle...soon...”
Grim issued a surprisingly human sigh and looked down at himself. ”We know...we know. Fear not, the preparations for her seizure are already underway.”