"Not yet. Not yet…."
The Count, seething with rage, searched desperately for Azadin. His dream, his ambition, was not yet over.
If he could defeat that herald, rally the remaining mummified soldiers, and request additional support from the Kurt Divine Clan and the Nagas of Nagashura… the losses could still be reversed.
There were plenty of corpses. There were still plenty of humans to turn into corpses. The drought would continue, and the world would spiral further into chaos.
And with things having come this far, neither the Kurt Divine Clan nor the Naga Queen, Devislin, would abandon him.
Surely….
—Rumble…
With a terrifying surge of power, the Count's body began to grow. His upper body, which had been the size of an ogre, swelled to nearly twice that size, and his tail lengthened as well.
A massive greatsword, which had once seemed like a mere dagger when he was ogre-sized, now felt as small as a fork in his grasp.
"Hah! As expected, they wouldn't abandon me!"
The Count hurriedly resumed his pursuit of Azadin.
***
The enraged Count charged toward Azadin, ripping a massive wooden torch post from the ground and swinging it like a club.
"What the—? Is he in a growth phase? He just keeps getting bigger!"
Seeing the Count, who had been merely the size of an ogre, continuing to grow, Azadin panicked and leaped over the rear garden's stone wall.
—Crash!
Though he had expected the ornamental brick pile, meant to create shade in the garden, to be weak, it shattered far too easily.
"Ugh!"
Azadin let out a cry as he rolled away from the falling debris. The Count's tail barely missed his head, sweeping past with a near miss. Fortunately, the uneven terrain of the rear garden allowed Azadin to evade the attack in the small dips in the ground.
"Ugh! You slippery little rat!"
The Count, frustrated by Azadin's agility, twisted his body to follow, but his massive new form had slowed his reactions. Seizing the opportunity, Azadin dashed toward a garden fountain, its large ceramic structure connecting to a flower bed.
"You won't escape!"
With a single sweep of the Count's arm, the entire structure shattered. But Azadin skillfully used the brief moments when the debris obscured the Count's vision to change directions and evade him.
The Count's fury only grew. If he assumed Azadin would dodge left and lunged in that direction, the man would slip away to the right. If he thought Azadin had retreated, he would instead charge forward at a diagonal angle and escape in an unexpected way.
Every time.
It was as if Azadin could read his moves like an open book. The frustration was akin to being on a relentless losing streak in a game of rock-paper-scissors or a card game.
"You little bastard!"
The Count unleashed attack after attack, but each time, Azadin skillfully dodged, all while organizing his quiver, securing the iron sword he had taken from the mummified soldier onto his belt, and making adjustments to his gear.
'Honestly… this is impressive! So this is the Emperor's herald!'
The Count marveled at Azadin's movements as he continued his pursuit.
No matter how skilled Azadin was, the Count's newfound size gave him a massive attack range. While his reactions had slowed, each swing of his weapon covered such an immense area that Azadin had to sprint at full speed just to avoid them.
No human could sustain that forever. Azadin was already gasping for breath, dodging for his life with every step.
***
'Damn it, I'm going to die like this.'
Azadin could feel the crisis closing in on him. He shouted toward Midiam and Ishmael.
"Midiam! Ishmael! Escape!"
"What?! But—"
"Take down the mummified soldiers and get out of here!"
"What about you?"
"If I don't stop that thing, you'll be in danger too! Don't worry about me."
Azadin scooped up fallen arrows from the ground. These were the arrows he had instructed Midiam and Ishmael to fire at the start of their incursion into the rear garden villa.
He refilled his quiver and even held the excess arrows in his hands.
"Alright!"
Azadin took some of the arrows in his grasp and stabbed them into the ground. The floor was covered with the venom the Count had spewed, and he coated the arrowheads with the toxic substance.
—Ssshhh!
Azadin fired the poison-laced arrows, but the Count conjured a barrier, blocking them with ease.
Would he be able to break through the barrier while also piercing the now even thicker scales of the enlarged Count?
'I'm doomed.'
Just as despair crept into his thoughts, an arrow from Midiam shot in from the side. Even though Azadin had told her to flee, she had stubbornly chosen to fire at the Count instead.
But her bow was weak. It hadn't been able to pierce the Count's scales even when he had been merely ogre-sized—how could it possibly do so now, when he had doubled in size?
Azadin himself wasn't confident he could pierce those scales unless he fired from close range with a fully drawn war bow.
But Midiam's arrow wasn't just any arrow.
—'Beauty of Nature, White Crane!'
The arrow, flying far beyond its usual range, struck the Count's barrier, and suddenly, the barrier shattered into countless fragments.
Midiam's magic had destroyed the Count's protective field.
While Azadin had been attempting to brute force his way through the Count's defenses, Midiam had infused her arrow with magic, unraveling the protective spell instead.
"What?!"
With the barrier abruptly gone, Azadin's poison arrows embedded themselves into the Count's exposed body.
"Ah, impressive!"
Azadin marveled at Midiam's well-timed support. And that wasn't all.
—'Beauty of Nature, Yellow Crane!'
Ishmael fired an enchanted arrow as well. It flew straight toward the Count's face but then veered sharply to the right, striking near his right eye. Upon impact, the arrow exploded, sending shockwaves across the Count's entire face.
"Gaaah!"
The Count let out a scream of pain.
"You keep treating me like a child, but I'm an Aragasa too!"
Midiam declared as she loosed another enchanted arrow.
"Damn it!"
The Count grabbed a handful of broken bricks from the ground, intending to hurl them at Midiam and Ishmael—but at that moment, Azadin fired another poison-laced arrow.
—Thud!
Azadin's rapid-fire shooting technique involved pulling the bowstring only halfway to shoot quickly in succession. However, this time, instead of rapid-fire, he drew the bowstring to its full extent, and in addition, he anchored the bow, further increasing the arrow's velocity.
Aragasa Shooting Technique!
Whether due to Azadin's effort or sheer precision, the arrow pierced through the Count's scales and embedded itself deep beneath his lower eyelid. It sank so deeply that even the fletching was no longer visible.
"Gaaah!"
The Count twisted his body, rolling on the ground. He had barely avoided the arrow piercing directly into his eyeball, but since the poisoned arrow had lodged itself in the extraocular muscles, it wouldn't be long before his vision in his right eye was compromised.
It was like having sharp grains of sand stuck inside the eye—but worse, as it was embedded precisely in the muscles that controlled eye movement. Any movement would continue to tear the muscle, while the venom seeped deeper.
Though his sheer size prevented him from immediately losing his vision or collapsing, the pain was enough to keep him from fully opening his eyes.
"You bastards!"
Azadin loosed another poison arrow, aiming for the Count's remaining eye. If he could blind the Count completely, victory would be his!
But that was a mistake.
***
This time, the Count charged forward. He no longer cared that an arrow was lodged in his eye—he rushed at Azadin with reckless abandon.
"Ugh!"
Azadin used Dusk Light to evade the Count's greatsword, but in that instant, the Count's tail came sweeping in.
Azadin barely managed to intercept it with the crude iron sword strapped to his waist, absorbing the impact by hurling himself backward.
Unlike before, this time the blow landed hard. Since the Count's tail had struck while Azadin was mid-shot, he had only been able to block with one hand, making the impact even worse.
Azadin was sent flying over the structures in the rear garden, landing atop the gallery roof that connected the garden to the bell tower.
"E-Even now… he's still alive?"
The Count, realizing that his tail lacked its usual sensation, was dumbfounded.
Azadin had once again absorbed the shock of the Count's tail strike, mitigating the damage by hurling himself with the force of the impact. However…
"Kh…."
His nosebleed, which had stopped momentarily, burst forth again. Nothing was broken, but his head buzzed with a ringing sensation, and it felt like thunder had exploded inside his ears.
It was as though he had been pummeled all over his body—his head, abdomen, pelvis, and legs—all at once.
The iron sword he had taken from the mummified soldier had shattered completely.
Since the Count had grown larger, his attacks had become even more devastating. On top of that, Azadin had only been able to block with one hand.
To stabilize his shaking insides and regulate his blood flow, he employed Kazas Haeseo's Breathing Technique, trying to recover as quickly as possible.
Had the Count attacked him immediately—or had there been even a single mummified soldier nearby—Azadin would have been as good as dead.
"Kraaah!"
But the Count was in no better condition.
His left eye was all but useless due to the poisoned arrow, while his right eye, though still functional, was stinging and itchy.
Enraged, the Count swung his greatsword and torch post wildly as he charged toward Azadin, who, despite his injuries, leaped backward and took shelter within the bell tower.
***
"W-Who are you?"
Inside the bell tower, several soldiers had taken refuge. When the mummified soldiers had appeared and a monstrous snake-like creature had gone berserk, they had fled in terror.
"If you don't mind, could I borrow a weapon?"
Azadin paused mid-sentence.
The roof of the bell tower had partially burned away, leaving only charred wooden beams hanging above.
Inside, several wooden planks had been arranged to support the tower's structure. However, since the fire had spread inside, the soldiers had removed them to prevent the tower from collapsing.
"You all, escape now! The bell tower is going to collapse!"
"What? But—"
"I'll buy you time, just go!"
Azadin grabbed Moon Horn Bow and climbed up to the tower's window, readying his arrows.
"Grah!"
The Count, furious, stormed toward the bell tower.
"Through the back door!"
"Ah—y-yes!"
"Understood!"
The soldiers, following Azadin's command, fled immediately.
"Good! Now then…!"
Azadin grabbed hold of the tower's bell rope and began climbing higher.
"You wretch!"
The Count began chanting a spell to attack. Spears of blood shot through the air, piercing through the tower windows and arcing upward from inside the bell tower.
"Is he dead?"
Just as that thought crossed the Count's mind…
—Rumble!
Suddenly, the bell tower began to collapse.
"Huh?!"
As the Count recoiled in shock, Azadin, gripping the head of a halberd, launched himself from the tower's peak, aiming straight for the Count's skull.
—'Beauty of Nature, Thunderclap! Kazas Haeseo!'
A devastating shockwave, akin to a thunderbolt, penetrated the Count's thick skull and transmitted deep inside.
"Gaaah?!"
Debris from the collapsing tower rained down.
Most devastating of all, the still-burning, jagged wooden beams impaled the Count's body.
Azadin had used the bell tower's rope to adjust his descent, ensuring that the splintered beams would stab directly into the Count.
"Y-You madman…."
With a final scream, the Count was crushed beneath the falling wreckage of the bell tower.