Chapter 31: The taste of despair

「Ara ara.」Sitting at a deserted shop, a busty figure with long purple hair calmly sipped down her tea as she looked up at the menacing threat that has decimated almost a third of the capital. 「What do you think about this interesting development, Raz-kun? 」

「...I think the kingdom of Maeg is doom, Your Majesty.」Unlike the woman, the man, donning a white tunic-like cloak, was much more nervous about the whole situation. 「I dont think even you can take that thing down.」

「Wow, I'm kinda sad that you think so little of me, Raz-kun.」The woman leaned back onto the chair's backrest while her hands leisurely placed behind her head.

「Your majesty, I really think we should just get away from here as quickly as we can.」The man quickly rushed standing up and trying to convince his queen, though she would not budge an inch.

「It's truly a shame though. We had just formalized our relationship and got a good trade deal with Kingdom of Maeg, after so many years of negotiation. Too bad the kingdom would soon fall into ruin.」

「Our city-state is right next to the Kingdom of Maeg, we should hurry back and ramp up our defense. There's a chance our city will be the next target for this Celestial Threat.」

「If you say so, would it not be better we deal with it here instead?」The woman finally hopped up, standing on her feet. The woman playfully formed a pair of imaginary glasses with her fingers and again gazed up at the miasma cloaked creature. 「From what I can tell, that thing is still growing. If we let it live, it'll grow stronger over time.」

「What? Really?」The man clicked his tongue.

「... I want to stay here and observe things for a while. After all, aren't you curious why such a creature appeared at Lorian all of a sudden? Besides, I'm starting to pick up hints of powerful individuals gathering around this city. Like I said, things are getting interesting, Raz-kun.」The woman, demon lord Gilga, slowly melted back down onto her chair, her hand lightly tapped onto the armrest, humming her favorite tune while Raz, the man accompanied her, was still hesitant about her decision to stay. Yet he knew better not to say anything otherwise and upset the very Celestial Threat he was serving.

…

「What do we have here?」Standing on the crowded hill outside the city, filled with panicking Lorian residents, a cloaked figure softly spoke to himself. 「This must have been Adela's doing. That woman always goes overboard. I guess depending on how the situation evolves, if those demon lord class individuals in the city could not deal with it, I would have to help them… Damn the Astrals, always make my life miserable!... On another note, why the hell are these people keep gathering here instead of dispersing? Do they not know crowded places attract these infected creatures? Seriously, maybe I should just kill them all...」Before the man could further contemplate what to do, he soon noticed the large object in the sky. 「Ho? Isn't that the royal ship?」

…

「「「Thank you! Thank you so much!!!」」」The group, led by the hybrid, hurriedly expressing their gratitude before eagerly escaping the capital. With the royal guards having already secured the vicinity and created safe-zones around the gates by fending off the monsters, Kibadios' duty of protecting the group soon ended as they reached their destination. A dozen guards quickly ordered the people following the hybrid to form a single line and orderly retreated outside of the city. Although these secured areas around the gates were efficiently set up by the guards, the hybrid had already noticed the high cost of soldier lives associated with them as hundreds of knight corpses could be found littered along the roads leading to the gate. Meanwhile, in the air, battalions of royal mages readily sacrificed dozens of their lives in suicidal charges to distract the creature every time they found its gaze had fixated to the gate areas. It seemed like they were all well trained. Considering that the king of this country has always been slacking off, like how I was told, this highly disciplinary force had to be due to Jayden's training , Kibadios thought to himself before several loud screams caught his attention. What now? He thought.

「Those voices came from that direction?」Kibadios pointed his finger and asked the soldier who was standing closest to him.

「That's the slave market!」replied the man. 「We have confirmed that everyone had been evacuated from that area. All that left were just about hundreds or so slaves that were trapped in their iron cages. Those must be their screams.」

「And you just left them there?」

「...They're slaves! We are not going to waste any lives trying to save some mere slaves!」argued the man.「Besides, they were locked inside their cages and the traders had already evacuated with the keys. There's nothing we could do!」

「...」Kibadios thought for a second before telling the soldier while running toward the direction of the slave market「I'll go and take a look then!」

「But sir!!!」The soldier yelled out, trying to convince the hybrid otherwise yet he quickly gave up, given that Kibadios had already disappeared into the small alleyway.

Even though from the eyes of the soldiers guarding the gate, Kibadios' selfless action seemed to have stemmed from his compassion, such thoughts were far from the truth. As the hybrid rushed to the marketplace, all he could think of was all the delicious half dead meals he would be able to devour with his skill if he was lucky enough to catch them right before dying. When he first visited the capital marketplace, he had already observed the countless different races being branded as slaves, along with the vast collections of different skill sets they all possessed. Even with his activated, there were some high level slaves that he could not discern their skills. The prospect of acquiring all those skills even gave Kibadios a semi as if he was Hisoka looking at Gon and Killua's behinds. Although he had already devoured several individuals, he could only assimilate one skill from the elven archer and the command over Holy element from Corey the Hero. The efficiency of assimilation of a new skill via his was far lower than that of Rimuru Tempest's so absorbing people into himself did not equate to gaining all of their skills. That just means I have to absorb more and more people , the hybrid thought to himself. M an, this is just like farming for weapons in Granblue. After a while, it will get tedious soon enough . By the time the hybrid reached the market, the whole common square was filled with packs of monsters, which was to be expected since there were no knights pushing them back. Just as he predicted, the majority of the slaves, which were either locked in their cages or chained into iron poles, had already been massacred by the monsters. The cages they were in did nothing to protect them as most were smashed open by several large mountain trolls. Since slaves were all branded with crests that limited their skills and power, most proved no match for the swarm of hideous monsters that kept flooding the marketplace despite their strength.

「I guess I'm a bit late.」Kibadios clicked his tongue as he looked at the sea of half eaten bodies of the slaves. Still, the commotion at the far end of the market soon caught the hybrid's attention. Stealthy jumping from one building structure to another to avoid the monster below, he finally noticed the source that attracted the monsters there. Down below, in a sea of bloody spiders-like creatures and goblins, stood a young boy with braided long white hair, his bang covered half of his face. His clothes were all tattered, revealing most of his lean muscles and six packs. Just from one look, the hybrid could tell the slave belonged to the ogre race, just like himself. Yet, strangely, instead of having either a tanned or white skin color like most orges, the young boy possessed a distinctly gray color. As the hybrid further examined him, he noticed the boy's eyes were completely dark, with a glowing red pupil as if he was a ghoul like Ken Kaneki. Had anyone just taken one look at him, it would be understandable for them to think of the boy as some sort of demonic monsters. Is he a hybrid just like me ? What's with his feral appearance ? Kibadios thought to himself. Although the boy was so close to escape the market and the gathering monsters, all hopes were lost for him as he found himself surrounded in every direction. His fists clenched tightly, ready to strike at any goblins or spiders that dared jumping at him. It seemed as though the monsters were weary of him too, since they were just standing around, looking for an opening once the boy lowered his guard. (Update on a later date: Click on comment to see picture of the boy. This imagination was a bit different from my description but I still like his designs. Just picture this drawing, but less furs on his stomach/front body :D)

「GRRRUUHHHH!!」A loud roar caused the boy to turn around, only for his eyes to open wide open in despair as two large mountain trolls found their way toward him. Despite its enormous size, one of the trolls swiftly leapt forward and punched the boy on the side with all its might, sending the ogre boy flying. He braced himself for the impact of the fall, which he was sure would break most of his bones. Yet, strangely, he found himself being cushioned by some dark glob. Before he knew what had happened, the other troll was already running toward him in what was seemingly a body slam attack. The boy struggled to stand up but the fluidic glob made it impossible for him to get away before the troll would crush him to death. He finally crossed his arms in front, preparing for the worst. Yet, such impact never came as he realized the troll had already been cut in half before it could reach him.

「...」The boy looked around, puzzled but his attention quickly switched back to the surrounding monsters. Seeing one of their strongest kinds easily slid in half, the others soon began to back down. Not wasting such perfect opportunity, the boy hastily sprung ahead at full speed on his splintered bare feet, skillfully dodged the cowered monsters. Of course he was also curious of who had just saved him, but he knew better to not linger nor hesitate for he knew a few seconds could determine whether he could successfully escape or if he, just like the rest of his fellow slaves, would become the monsters' food. His total concentration and quick action finally paid off as he finally broke through the monsters and made his escape into a small alleyway nearby. The boy briefly turned around for a final attempt at identifying who or what had just saved him but soon gave up.

「Looks like he finally made it.」The hybrid, sitting atop of a nearby building, licking his lip as his eyes were glued onto the boy's ass until he vanished away from the hybrid's sight. 「I hope you'll stay alive and grow into a fine young man some days. If you want to thank someone, you better thank the incubus blood in my vein for not willing to let a fine young specimen like you become food for monsters.」Kibadios stood up and did a quick stretch. 「Oh well, I was hoping that I could have devoured the slaves here but since they're all dead, I guess I can't help it. At least, I have discovered someone even more delicious.」 His gaze now switched to the menace flying above the city.「Now, I need to take a closer look at you, filthy creature.」

-----

「Your Majesty!!!」The royal knights outside the capital gathered around the airship once it had safely landed and greeted their newly crowned king.

「Give me the latest update!」Lance demanded while walking down the stairs along with the other heroes.

「The creature just appeared out of nowhere and attacked the city. We are currently trying to evacuate the citizens from the capital while the Royal Mage Battalion is trying to distract the creature.」The old captain looked up to the sky above Lorian to notice only a few of the mages were left. 「But I'm afraid they would not last long.」

「Amber dono, Kyles dono, Ryan dono and I will try our best to deal with him」Thomas declared.「Hopefully we can buy you guys more time to finish the evacuation. 」The blind hero stood frozen for a brief moment, then continued. 「Try to disperse the citizens far away from the capital! infected individuals are supposed to be attracted by crowds, if the citizens are gathering on these hills, sooner or later, that thing will turn its attention here.」

「Yes sir!」The knight acknowledged Thomas' command.

「Your Majesty, what are you doing?」The captain was surprised once he realized his king has just discarded his royal robes down onto the ground, revealing the adamantine armor underneath. 「Dont tell me you're also thinking of fighting against that creature.」

「Of course!」Lance nodded. 「It's a king's duty to protect his citizens and his own palace.」

「Your Majesty, please don't be reckless! We should be getting you to safety instead!」

「Out of the question.」Lance picked up his sword from one of his retainers. 「Continue focus on the evacuation effort. Also, send out the distress signal to the Divine Oracle, letting them know of the situation and request reinforcements. We cannot afford to let this creature loose onto the world.」Lance clenched onto his sword. After all… That was Jayden…

After finishing instructing the knights, Lance headed straight into the devastated capital without any reservation, accompanied by the heroes' parties. Although he wanted to spare all the manpowers for the evacuation, the captain had managed to persuade his king to let at least a dozen knights accompany him back into the city. The capital has always been the place where Lance spent all of his life, yet, it has become unrecognizable now. Gone was the rows of trees running along the main avenue. Gone was the hustling crowds. Gone was the festive air that had always enveloped the city. Replacing those, was, in fact, a devastating scene of death and destruction. Most of the buildings within the capital were reduced to rubbles. Underneath them, the king could hear faint sounds of people screaming for the help that might never come. The streets were now dyed in blood. The air was filled with a terrifying smell of burning flesh. The pack of heroes were given no time to prepare once they got into the capital since the creature quickly noticed their presence due to their holy aura. The creature growled loudly, sending shockwaves that knocked down the remaining mages before diving straight down at the group.

「Watch out!」Thomas, who was the first to sense the incoming threat, shouted out. Aiming to counter it, the veteran hero swung his arm, throwing his harpoon at the creature. The weapon, which was enveloped by a veil of water, left swirling trails behind as if Tanjiro Kamado had just performed his breath of water technique. Still, such counterattack was futile for the creature easily caught the ever accelerating harpoon right before it smashed its head by clapping two of its four arms. Still, Thomas did not seem surprised as he wearily smiled since at the very least, he had successfully stopped the creature's momentum. 「Go!」

At his signal, the members from his party quickly climbed up to the partially destroyed buildings around the creature and surrounded it. Meanwhile, Kyles and Amber, each approached the creature from either side and delivered two simultaneous slashes aiming at its head. Still, with its other two free hands, the creature stopped Kyle's sabre and Amber's dagger with ease. Not letting such overpowered creature discourage them, both the heroes switched stance midair, holding onto their weapons as support while twisting their bodies around and landed two kicks straight at its head. Their legs, which were both covered in Holy aura, should have caused major damage to the creature; However, surprisingly, the creature was still unhurt for he had erected a thick layer of miasma to soften the attacks. It now released Thomas' harpoon then punched the two heroes with its newly freed hands, sent them crashing straight into nearby buildings. Little did the creature knew, the two heroes' reckless attacks were merely distraction since once it noticed Thomas' party members, chanting rites to summon forth a seal enveloping the surrounding space, it was too late for any maneuvers. Like a fly stuck in a spider's web, the creature found itself standing in the middle of a large watery net sprung up above its head.

「」Thomas called forth his attack as if he's a jounin class ninja performing his jutsu from Naruto. At his command, the expansive net, casted by his party, wrapped around the creature, then quickly shrunk down, locking it in place.

「!」Screamed out Ryan, delivering his electric attack in hope for a decisive victory. Just like when he was fighting against Kibadios during the practice match, electrical orbs were summoned, then grew larger and larger as they launched themselves at the trapped creature. A huge explosion followed, casting up a large bowl of dust and debris.

「Did we get it?」Thomas muttered. Silence followed since everyone held back their breath, anxiously awaiting for the moment the dust settled. Yet, once it did, their hopeful anticipations were crushed as the creature still stood upright. All those coordinated attacks had merely scratched its arms, letting a few of its black blood dripping down onto the ground. Its appearance has also changed as it morphed into a leaner figure. Still, with his sensory skill, Thomas could tell the creature had just evolved into a more perfect form, for its Haki level was now almost ten times than when the fight first started. 「Damn it!」

「, , , .」Kyles, who had just stood up from the rubbles, activated his skills.

「, 」Amber activated her skills from the other side of the road.

「... I guess this is to be expected...」Thomas internally laughed at his own naivety. 「If that was all it took to take you down, you wouldnt be considered a Celestial Threat. Let's do this!!!!」

The orge boy:

He's inspired by Usagi from Juuni Taisen (hair, eyes, face) , Pharzuph from Chain Chronicle game (gray skin, long hair), and Kamui from Gintama (Braided long hair)

https://i.imgur.com/XIA1Bdw.jpg