-Crunch!
With a single stomp from Azadin, the hobgoblin's shoulder twisted, and its body sank to the ground.
"Kyahhh!"
"K-kill him!"
The goblins swarmed toward Azadin, who had boldly landed in their midst.
The stone axes and rusty swords in the goblins' hands sliced through the air. However, Azadin dodged and grabbed the arm of a goblin swinging at him.
-Crack!
Just by gripping it tightly, the goblin's fingers, which held the stone axe, shattered. Blood, flesh, and broken bone fragments clung to the wooden handle in a sticky mess.
Azadin grabbed both the stone axe and the goblin, swinging them together. The stone axe instantly split open another goblin's skull, and the goblin being swung with it was hurled away like a ragdoll.
"Krrk!?"
Azadin swung the goblin's body horizontally.
It was no longer a goblin.
It was now a lump of shapeless flesh.
Azadin swung that lump of flesh, turning everything within its range into the same grotesque state.
The goblins, whose entire skeletons were crushed yet whose muscle fibers remained intact, became a massive club covered with bone spikes. Those unfortunate enough to be struck were either flung away or impaled by the spikes, merging into one gruesome mess as they got swept up by Azadin.
After clearing the goblins around him, Azadin raised his hand toward the sky.
Arrows rained down from above. The arrows that had been launched from his quiver now poured back into his hands.
A bow was in his other hand.
-Whoosh!
The arrows fired swiftly. Each time Azadin drew the bow, the arrows shot out with terrifying speed, piercing through the goblins.
Azadin rapidly unleashed a hail of arrows, taking down the goblins and hobgoblins before climbing the fortress wall as though it were flat ground.
"Uh…"
"…A Herald Clan member."
The watching militia members were dumbfounded.
That was supposed to be an army of darkness threatening them. But this man had effortlessly taken down an ogre and wiped out its minions all on his own.
The entire battle had only taken a moment.
"As expected of the slayers of sanctity…"
With abilities like that, no wonder they had slain the divine kings.
They all understood now, but Azadin himself was not satisfied.
The air was still thick with ominous, evil energy.
"Everyone, be careful. Something's coming."
***
A goblin holding a bone wand was unlucky enough to get struck by the blind ogre's obsidian axe. Though it didn't die, even a glancing blow tore its flesh and fractured its bones, leaving it in critical condition.
As the goblin tumbled to the ground, humans who had escaped from the meat cage charged toward it.
"Hey! Wh-what do we do?"
"Take that damn wand from him!"
"Y-yeah!"
They rushed the wounded, gasping goblin, kicking and punching it without hesitation.
"Where's a weapon? Anybody got one?"
"Just kill it!"
"Why won't this bastard let go of the wand?"
As they beat the goblin mercilessly, they tried to pry the bone wand from its hands, recognizing that the wand wasn't just any ordinary object.
For those whose bodies had been mutilated by Azadin, seizing this chance for a reward was essential.
But then…
"I-I am the King of Fang…"
The goblin muttered those words as it clawed at its own body.
-Squelch!
Suddenly, an abnormal event unfolded.
"What?"
The thugs who had just escaped from the ogre's meat cage couldn't believe their eyes. Right before them, one of their comrades' torsos suddenly vanished.
Dangling limbs briefly stood upright on the ground before collapsing. Before them stood a monster with an arm split open, lined with sharp teeth protruding from within.
The goblin's entire arm had transformed into the mouth of a beast.
"What?"
"What the hell is that?!"
"Ah!"
Blood-red tendrils shot out of the goblin's body like ropes, sprouting razor-sharp teeth that shredded everything they touched.
"Aaagh!"
"Argh!"
The thugs who had rushed to take the bone wand were killed one after another. The goblin was no longer a goblin.
Its arms had turned into tentacles bristling with countless fangs, and its legs had followed suit.
It devoured nearby flesh to enlarge its body. It slammed the ogre's discarded meat cage, absorbing its contents, and then wrapped its fang-covered whips around the blind ogre.
"Ahhh! N-no! I love eating, but I don't want to be eaten!"
The blind ogre struggled, but the fangs tore into its flesh, devouring it alive in mere moments.
***
"Aaagh!"
"What, what is that?!"
The villagers shrieked in horror at the scene unfolding before their eyes.
A mass of crimson flesh had suddenly enveloped the ogre, tearing it apart with razor-sharp teeth, and was now devouring the goblin corpses scattered across the ground.
Azadin clicked his tongue at the grotesque sight.
"The Kurt Divine Clan, the King of Fang."
The Kurt Divine Clan was a savage race that had ruled this land before the Yaegas Divine Clan arrived. Many monsters had served them.
After the Yaegas clan drove the Kurt clan out, their followers had fled to remote areas untouched by humans, where they continued to survive to this day.
"This job is starting to feel like a rip-off without a gold coin bonus!"
Despite his exasperation, Azadin calmly observed the creature.
It continued to consume the corpses nearby, growing larger, until a goblin's head emerged from within. The goblin held the bone wand and ignited an amber flame at its tip.
"Servants of Yaegas! Hand over the Book of Divine King! If you do, I will grant you a merciful dea—"
-Thud!
Before it could finish its sentence, Azadin's arrow blew off the goblin's head.
The first arrow took the goblin's head, the second severed its arm. Without wasting time, Azadin leaped off the wall and sprinted toward the fallen wand.
'So these guys are after a copy of the Book of Divine King? What's their plan?'
Curious, Azadin dashed toward the wand to retrieve it.
At that moment—
-Whoosh!
The flesh whip lashed toward Azadin.
A terrifying mass of flesh bristling with sharp teeth targeted him, and if it hit, he would be drenched in blood in an instant.
However, Azadin's body blurred and lightly evaded the whip's attack. He had lured the whip by retreating with a feint movement.
The whip, which had struck the ground, rebounded and aimed at Azadin again, but he picked up a goblin's rusty sword from the ground and struck it.
-Slash!
The gums studded with teeth were sliced through in one swift motion.
"The teeth are too large for the amount of flesh. Teeth with shallow roots are bound to be weak."
The teeth protruding from the tentacles were excessively large compared to the width and thickness of the tentacles. Furthermore, the tentacles lacked any proper jawbone structure, meaning the teeth were merely spikes protruding from the flesh.
Of course, they were still sufficient to tear a person apart, but against a proper steel blade, those teeth wouldn't hold up.
"Arrogant fool! I am the King of Fang!"
"No, you're just a lowly minion created by the King of Fang," Azadin corrected the goblin's claim.
"Grahh!"
The goblin, irritated, had its whip-like tentacle wrap around the bone wand on the ground. The tip of the wand flared with amber flames.
"Kreeek!? You have the Book of Divine King…"
-Thud!
In that moment, Azadin, shocked, threw a dagger and blew off the goblin's head. It knows about the Book of Divine King?
'How does it know?'
Azadin calmly reviewed the situation.
'The wand's flame seems to be guiding it toward me? Could it be?'
Azadin realized that the wand had the ability to locate a copy of the Book of Divine King.
"Dieee!"
Enraged, the goblin—no, the King of Fang' minion—unleashed an explosive number of whips, lashing them toward Azadin.
The countless attacks and sharp teeth swirled toward Azadin, aiming to tear him apart.
"Hey!"
"Watch out!"
Was it because the situation was too urgent? The townsfolk, who normally couldn't tolerate the Herald Clan, screamed on Azadin's behalf.
'The attacks seem chaotic and overwhelming, but…'
Azadin easily dodged the tentacle attacks directed at him.
'To keep the whips from tangling, the movements naturally become predictable.'
Azadin's physical capabilities had reached a level beyond human imagination. He deftly avoided the tentacle strikes, parrying only the attacks that seemed close enough with the rusty sword.
Each time, large chunks of teeth were torn off and fell to the ground. Azadin made it seem easy, but the whip attacks were incredibly fast and heavy—ordinary people wouldn't have stood a chance against them.
Even though the ogre was blind, it couldn't put up any resistance before being devoured, demonstrating how powerful the attacks were. Yet, Azadin countered them with delicate movements, as if combing the mane of a charging bison.
-Sizzle.
Smoke began to rise from the sword in Azadin's hand. The tentacles of the King of Fang secreted a powerful digestive acid, causing the sword to deteriorate.
"Tch."
Azadin looked around for another weapon, but realizing there was none, he reluctantly drew the soldier's sword from his waist.
It was a weapon taken from one of the soldiers who had accompanied Kozel, the young master. The soldiers wore plate armor and were practically knights in terms of armament.
The sword was sleek and of high quality, so Azadin had kept it. But fighting against the King of Fang' acid-spewing tentacles would surely ruin it.
Still, there was no room to be stingy about equipment in the face of such ferocious whip attacks.
'As much as it pains me, better to use this sword than suffer injuries trying to save it. Besides, I have plenty of swords stocked up.'
Azadin slashed at the tentacles with the soldier's sword. But even this high-quality blade began to corrode upon contact with the acid.
"Uh…"
"Th-that thing!"
"What do we do?"
The villagers watching were flustered.
"Shoot arrows! We need to help that herald!" the leader of the militia, a hunter, shouted.
"B-but helping a herald…"
If word got out to the king's church that they had aided a Herald Clan member, it would be considered heresy. They could be executed.
Despite the severity of the crime, the hunter scoffed.
The nobles, descended from the divine kings and revered by the king's church, had looted their village and left.
On the other hand, the blasphemous heralds, the so-called soulless heretics who had slain kings, were now fighting in front of them without any reason but to help.
Wasn't it obvious what they should do in this situation?