Higher-Rank Monster (1)

Odun was not the only officer who could cast spells on Louis.

There were plenty of other officers inside the fortress who would torment any soldier who dared to act out.

However, the reason Louis insisted on Odun was because he tortured much more frequently than the others.

The other officers mostly used their spellwork to prevent desertion or maintain discipline.

Of course, if one openly challenged an officer, they might get tortured, but Louis was subjected to it far too often.

There were more than a few times when Louis had deliberately provoked officers just to get subjected to their spells.

He’d done all sorts of things, calling them “big bro” or even “dad”, just like he did with Odun.

Naturally, they got angry and activated their spells, but Louis still kept it up for as much as a whole month at a time.

The fact that Louis showed no aftereffects from the torture only made the group all the more suspicious of him.

‘Basically, I’ve been going around saying, “Please torture me!” huh.’

In the end, like chewing gum that loses its flavor, even those officers were beginning to get tired of torturing Louis.

They figured there was no point in doing it again since he would just endure anyway.

On the other hand, Odun was the kind of person who would immediately trigger a spell the moment he saw any soldier.

The other officers at least hesitated out of some basic sense of humanity, but Odun simply enjoyed the suffering of his men.

He loved these spellworks more than anyone else. What Louis needed right now was an officer with that sort of sadistic streak.

Odun didn’t lose his “flavor” easily. There was no other officer who could “sponsor” Louis’s torture as reliably as Odun.

“Damn it.”

But that sponsor had just died. Louis stared in shock at Odun’s severed arm, left behind.

“There was no one as good at tormenting people as this bastard.”

As Louis dropped Odun’s arm with resignation, the gigantic lizard that had killed him glared at Louis.

In addition, the Middle Lizard monsters that were gathering nearby started closing in on Louis as well.

“Higher-rank monster… Elite Lizard…!”

Kelton, who had been thrown against the wall and collapsed on the ground, looked up at the higher-rank monster that had fallen from the ceiling and was aghast.

All the other soldiers were dead, Odun, who had been another squad leader, had perished, and Kelton himself was badly injured.

Having been hit badly in the waist and lower body, he couldn’t stand up for a while.

He couldn’t run, and there was no one around to help him.

At least Louis was still alive.

Kelton hadn’t seen what happened while he was down, but for now, the only survivors were himself and Louis.

Maybe he could get help from Louis…

“No… It’s hopeless.”

Of course, there was no way that would work. Louis was surrounded, so there was no way he had the leeway to rescue Kelton.

After Louis was eaten, it would just be his turn next.

There wasn’t a shred of hope. Just as Kelton felt like it was all over—

Chwaaaak!-

One of the Middle Lizards surrounding Louis was suddenly sliced diagonally in half.

The two that had been standing behind it were also cut cleanly in two, as if by some invisible force.

“Eh?”

Kelton doubted his eyes. Beyond the split corpses stood Louis, holding a sword.

Could that kid have done this?

With the strength of an ordinary soldier, not only would it be hard to handle a Middle Lizard, even taking down a lower-rank lizard would be a challenge.

Just as Kelton was starting to question it, his eyes landed on the sword in Louis’s hand.

The blade was still wet with thick monster blood, as if it had just been swung moments ago.

Zzzt—

Right after that, the stained sword seemed to reach its limit and shattered into pieces.

Kelton was speechless as the fragments, like shards of glass, hit the ground.

“The durability of this sword is pathetic.”

Louis quietly muttered as he tossed the broken sword.

Draining all the durability just by swinging it a few times was something even Kelton and Odun couldn’t do.

“Let me borrow this.”

Louis spoke briefly and picked up Odun’s sword from the floor.

The other lizards swarmed in a frenzy, but Louis could see right through their movements.

As one Lizard swung its arm, Louis dodged with a low leap and landed on the arm.

In an instant, he sprinted up to the shoulder and then sliced the monster’s neck in a single stroke, leaping straight for another monster nearby.

– Kieeeek!

Another monster tried to grab Louis as he hung in the air, but Louis twisted his body midair to dodge its hand.

At the same time, he landed on the back of the hand and beheaded the monster in the exact same way.

– Kuaaahhh!!

Sensing danger at Louis’s unexpected agility, several of the lizards charged him at once.

They seemed to think he wouldn’t be able to move the same way against multiple enemies.

They were crafty enough to use some tactics, but Louis just let out a sly laugh and dropped his sword to the ground.

The reason for dropping it was so he could use another weapon for a bit.

What Louis picked up this time was the tail of a beheaded lizard.

“Hup-sa!”

Lifting the entire lizard carcass, Louis spun around. He started twirling the creature’s corpse, far larger than even a boulder, as though it were a flail.

The charging lizards were struck by the whirling corpse.

Since it was just as massive and muscular as they were, the impact was unimaginable.

It was like a human swinging a club and beating another human with it, except these were monsters.

Those hit by the spinning body had every bone in their bodies shattered on the spot.

As Louis dispatched all those monsters with a single blow, Kelton rubbed his eyes and looked at him again.

‘What kind of freak is he?’

The lizards Louis wiped out so easily had been tough even for Kelton and Odun to take on.

Kelton’s group had to use other soldiers as bait just to barely bring one down.

And yet, this was a twelve-year-old child.

‘Maybe…’

He had a lot of questions, but he’d have to ponder them later.

He was starting to think that he might actually survive as long as Louis was around.

‘No, still…’

But the moment he saw the next monster, his hopes faded. Just one look at a higher-rank monster was enough to sap away anyone’s will to fight.

– Gruuuuu…

The Elite Lizard now revealed its face in front of Louis and the others, after witnessing Louis’s unbelievable feats.

Louis spoke to the Elite Lizard, who seemed to look at him with curiosity.

“What? All your kids are dead—are you pissed off? Not that you can talk, seeing as you killed my sponsor and now my military life is ruined.”

-…

The lizard stared silently at Louis.

The Elite Lizard, with even higher intelligence than mid-rank monsters, was nearly on the level of a human. Of course, actually speaking a human language was impossible.

Yet, the Elite Lizard strangely felt a sense of caution as it faced Louis. Even though they couldn’t communicate verbally, it almost felt like the lizard could sense Louis’s inner thoughts.

Still, that wasn’t unheard of for an Elite Lizard. In fact, it happened all the time. The unspoken thoughts of lower-ranked lizards would often just naturally transfer to him.

Thanks to that, the Elite Lizard instinctively understood. This phenomenon only occurred between those of the same kind.

“Are we having a staring contest now?”

-…

Which was why the lizard could not comprehend this human child. While it would be easy to just swallow him up, for some reason, the lizard was convinced it would be a mistake to attack.

Why was this phenomenon, something that only happened among its own kin, manifesting with this human?

And what was this instinctive sense, as if he were facing a superior?

While the Elite Lizard was repeatedly struck by ominous foreboding, Louis spoke in a chilling voice.

“If you’re not coming at me, should I go at you first?

― Krrrrk!

The unspoken thought in those words was simple enough: no matter what, I’m going to kill you.

The Elite Lizard was certain of one thing about Louis. No matter what else, it would be dangerous if he was left alive.

Thud!-

The massive lizard’s arm crashed down on Louis. It was like being flattened by a dinosaur—no human could possibly endure that.

“Oh, you hit pretty hard?”

But a voice rang out from beneath the monster’s foot. Louis was holding back the lizard’s foot with both hands, resisting the monster’s weight.

He’d just taken the same attack that had vaporized Odun’s body—barehanded.

What’s more, Louis threw the foot off of him in the opposite direction.

Taking advantage of the monster’s loss of balance, he leaped up to the Lizard’s face and smashed it with a punch.

As the lizard staggered from the blow, Louis snatched up Odun’s discarded sword.

With one more leap, he jabbed the sword at the lizard’s neck.

Crack!-

But the sword broke again instead of piercing the neck. It made a scratch, but it wasn’t enough for a fatal wound.

“Tough as hell.”

Louis was admiring the difference between this one and the mid-rank ones he’d just defeated, when suddenly, sensing the tail whip coming at him, he immediately raised his arms to block.

He managed to block the attack, but took the shock with his bare body and went flying into a wall, slamming hard.

The whole wall cracked and collapsed from the impact.

“Damn, you’re insanely strong too.”

Louis got up unharmed, but his blocking arm was numb.

He marveled at the fact that his arm bone was cracked.

Since joining the 7th Legion—or really, since turning into a monster for the first time—this was the first time he’d ever been injured.

But it wasn’t over yet.

A purple radiance began to swirl around the Elite Lizard’s mouth. The air around its mouth grew toxic, and the floor began to melt from the venom leaking out.

Louis could instinctively tell what that meant.

The creature looked like a lizard, but this was why people called it a “dragon without wings”.

― KUOOOOO!!!

As the lizard roared, a huge cloud of venom blasted from its jaws.

As dense as a beam of energy, the venom engulfed Louis and then even melted through the wall behind him.

The rocks nearby dissolved instantly in the toxic cloud.

The true core of the venom kept going, boring through up to the surface and splitting the forest above in half.

Everything in the path of that venom was obliterated. Trees, rocks, and cave walls all evaporated, unable even to retain their shapes.

The ground along the venom’s path was now deadly, unable to sustain life.

If this venom had erupted in the middle of a human village, most buildings would have been vaporized, and the residents would have been poisoned and killed.

The destructive force of a single attack was enough to bring disaster.

Kelton, who had watched from start to finish, was left speechless and in despair.

“Is it over…?”

How could anyone possibly survive a direct hit from that? Kelton, and even the lizard, seemed to be thinking the same thing.

“Huh?

― Krrrk?

At that moment, the lizard’s eyes grew wide. Kelton, who had just abandoned hope, also doubted his own eyes.

After the venom-tipped breath died down, Louis was still standing there unharmed.

“I’ll admit, that one made me nervous.

― Krrrk?

“No wonder you’re called a higher-rank monster.”

The Elite Lizard, intelligent in its own way, considered the situation and found it simply unbelievable.

It wasn’t just that Louis was fine. Something about his body had changed.

“And… this is the first time my body has turned out like this.”

Scales now covered Louis’s arms. Horns had sprouted from his head, and he now had a tail behind him. Two-legged, he was still human-shaped, and yet his form was downright monstrous.

Scales and tail. It must have been those scales that blocked the venom breath.

Only now did the lizard realize why he had been able to read Louis’s inner thoughts.

“Should I call it… telepathy?

― Kiiik…?

“I can pretty much hear your thoughts too.”

The fact that Louis was a kindred—but of an even higher species—shocked the Elite Lizard to its core.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep