Chapter 96: War Arts

The artery of the Breathing Giant was deathly silent.

The fleshy mass around me pulsing from the aftermath of the shockwave and the thick, damp air sticking to my skin like a second layer.

The puddles of black goo rippled lightly, before returning to a state of calm.

The world was still.

Until, suddenly...

Something moved in the darkness.

[Bloodlust detected.]

I smirked, my fingers flexing over Silver Lining's hilt while my other hand clenched Maladroit Ax, feeling the insatiable hunger of the weapon siphon more World Energy from my Aperture.

HOO...FWOO...

I steadied my heart with slow, cyclic breaths.

Alright...here they come...

3...2...1...

CRACK!!!

The artery ripped open, torn apart by a mass of writhing limbs and gnashing teeth. A head, not one, not two, not even three but dozens sprouted from the mess, their eyes sunken and hollow, their gaping maws filled with jagged, uneven fangs.

Mossy-green skin stretched over exposed bone, their torsos merging into the walls, pulsing like veins pumping life into the body of the Breathing Giant.

Their envisage was truly horrifying, truly gut-wrenching...but after witnessing the cancerous forms of the Mad Fomorians...

I just couldn't be shaken.

SHEEN!

I stared them down, reflexively raising Silver Lining to my chest.

"Well, well, well...seems like more have come to join the party."

For a moment, there was silence until one of the heads, hanging from the top of the artery tunnel, suddenly widened its maw and spoke.

"Y-you..."

I let out an amiable grin, "Yes me."

The head's maw snapped shut to my reply and for an instance, I glimpsed a hint of scorn in its sunken eyes before it suddenly disappeared replaced by odious rage.

And then-

They exploded into madness.

[Bloodlust detected.]

The system announced once again, but this time I didn't shudder, instead...

My eyes let out a sharp glint, my killing intent flaring outwards to meet theirs.

[Skill: Terror Inducement is active.]

POP!

The air cracked subtly as our auras crashed into each other, trying to devour the other.

I let out a smirk.

Hehe...no better way to aura farm than clashing with the aura of an eldritch horror with your own aura.

SCREE...!!

The monsters of the artery suddenly flared up, enraged at their inability to dominate their prey. Their grotesque limbs and terrifying maws flailing wildly in a bid to tear me apart.

BANG!

The blade of the Maladroit Ax collided against a jagged limb sprouting from the fleshy floor of the artery.

TSS...

The impact rattled through my arms, the sheer force threatening to throw me off balance, but I held firm, digging my heels into the pulsing floor.

Darn thing...

The Maladroit Ax flashed, carving into the revolting limb and splitting it open; its sharpened blade glinting as the limb let out a terrible shriek before collapsing to the ground.

One down...

I pivoted on my left heel, just in time to dodge a second limb lashing out like a whip. It scraped against my cheek, without leaving even a scratch.

[Skill: Resistance is active.]

I smirked wryly, before hacking the limb apart with Silver Lining.

Hehe...

I hopped back, trying to form distance.

HOO... FWOO...

I steadied my breath again as I sunk deeper into my stance.

The system recognized this and announced,

[Skill: War Arts has been activated.]

War Arts...

I rolled my shoulders. The artery quivered, the heads above writhing in frenzy. Their sunken eyes bore into me, brimming with animalistic rage.

I could feel it, their immense scorn for me and their desperate yearning for my demise.

After all, I had been a serious pain in their neck since the moment I arrived here.

I lunged forward, aiming to hack off one of the many heads before being blocked by another jagged appendage.

CLANG!

Its countless maws collided against my blades, throwing me to the side.

SQUELCH.

It may sound funny, but these things... no matter how horrifying they look, aren't exactly evil. They aren't trying to kill me out of madness or due to some profane hunger...

Instead, they were simply trying to rid a foreign object that had invaded the body of their host, the Breathing Giant.

CLANG!

Another jagged appendage collided with my silver blade, before getting cleaved by my Ax. Fetid blood spewed forth as it dropped to the ground, and then the artery absorbed it.

Just like the human body possessed antibodies that warded off illnesses, the body of the Breathing Giant possessed a living entity that eliminated anomalies from its system.

It was also why the system had registered the detected bloodlust as one from a hostile environment and not from an enemy.

The only strange thing about them was their very existence.

How were they still alive?

The Breathing Giant was dead, so obviously it's body should die too but in the world of Untethered death wasn't so simple.

It was simple to conclude that the existences of these monsters could simply be attributed to the World Energy in the Giant's Aperture but when you put the fact that said Giant is actually a blockade for a strange hole, into perspective...

Things weren't so simple anymore.

CLANG!! CLANG!!

I fought against the ravenous mass of limbs, slashing and carving through them with ruthless violence.

The positions of the several limbs that lunged at me were laid bare through Reverb Mapping before being speedily processed by the gift of clarity. The thrill of battle worked in kind, adapting my movements to the growing carnage.

CLANG! CLANG! CLANG!

Silver Lining and Maladroit Ax sang together in a bloody harmony, clashing against the countless maws and spelling doom to all who reached their blades.

SLASH! RIP! TEAR!

I slaughtered the horde, cutting down maws and limbs alike. Blood was spilled, flesh was torn, the heads cried in agony and I...

I laughed.

"HAHAHAHAHA!!!"

It was exhilarating, absolutely enlivening...to absolutely dominate your opponent in battle.

Especially if your opponent was an ancient horror living in the body of a dead giant.

SCREE!!

One of the heads lunged forth in murderous rage, opening its chasmic maw to bite down on me. Normally such a situation would have been terrifying but after clashing with them countless times, it had become a common occurrence.

SLASH!

Silver Lining zipped through the air, drawing a thin line across its head.

EE-

Before the head could even let out a screech, its head divided into a gooey mess of black fluid.

SCREE!!

The several heads let out an ear-piercing wail, deeply enraged by the death of their comrade. Their bloodlust flared high, immediately suppressing mine.

[Extreme Bloodlust detected.]

ACK!

For a moment, I shuddered, my skin crawled and my breath hitched. My eyes widened, as my body failed to react to an approaching attack.

But I didn't need to react...

[Spell: Spoken Phantom Blink has been invoked.]

BOOM!!

A giant clawed limb crashed into my previous position, sending a powerful tremor rolling through the artery.

SCREE...

The heads leaned forward as they slowly removed the limb, expecting to see a bloody spectacle.

HMM...

They froze.

There was nothing there.

"Looking for me, bastards?"

The heads snapped towards me, who was now a couple of meters away. I held a hand over my mouth, forcing myself not to hurl while a flickering light died in the magic circle on my left.

Damn...I still can't use it freely...

SCREE!!!

The heads screamed in rage, urging the giant limb to lunge violently at my direction. It blazed through the artery at highspeed, its form merging with it slightly to remove resistance.

One thing was clear though, if it struck me, my demise was inevitable.

And since its form was so large, there was no other way to escape other than turning tail and running down the tunnel.

But of course...

Store.

[Unequipped Item: Maladroit Ax.]

The Ax collapsed into shards as I summoned another item.

I wasn't going to run.

Open.

[Equipped Item: Sin of Wrath.]

At my command, a red amulet laced with an obsidian chain materialized itself onto my neck and slowly...

A red miasma rose from it.

And with the miasma came an indescribable rage.

[You have been affected by Effect: Ire of Balor.]

A rage so great it threatened to consume my mind...my soul.

Focus!

[Skill: Resistance is active.]

I forcefully pulled myself back to my senses, using Silver Lining as an anchor and instead allowing the rage to dissolve.

[Skill: Berserker is active.]

The instant the system spoke, I suddenly felt a well of immense power rise within me.

My vision turned red, my muscles tightened, my senses sharpened and my sensitivity to pain vanished.

WHOOSH!!

The clawed limb approached threatening to tear me apart when suddenly my blade moved.

Mae.

[Skill: War Arts has been activated – Iaido.]

SLASH! RIP! TEAR!

I slashed, cut and hacked the giant mass to pieces.

THUMP.

Just like that, the fearsome clawed limb collapsed into a mess of hacked flesh. I emerged from the darkness, doused in fetid blood.

HA...

A low growl escaped my lips as I flicked my blade to the side, raising my gaze to meet the heads.

"Are you still going to fight?"

My gaze asked a silent question as my grip on Silver Lining tightened.

The head that had spoken earlier, stared at me with loathing in its sunken eyes before saying,

"Y-you a-abomination...we will be back..."

With that, the heads vanished into the darkness.