Awakening of the Weakest Slayer

The Beasts alerted as they saw Sezel advancing towards them. Two of the Flesh Reapers flanked to both sides, their movements a synchronized, deadly dance, and attacked at the same time—a coordinated pincer attack that spoke of an intelligence far beyond their mindless nature.

Sezel skidded to a halt, his boots scraping against the hard, rocky ground, and turned towards one of them, his back deliberately exposed to the other.

His puppet rushed in and intercepted the monster coming for his unprotected back.

As the beast on Sezel's front launched itself and closed the distance with a terrifying blur of motion, Sezel ducked down, his body a coiled spring. The moment the creature's head was just above him, he raised the sword, its cold steel piercing right through the beast's neck with a wet, sickening sound.

But the force of its momentum, the sheer, crushing mass of its obsidian body, made Sezel roll back with it, the dead weight of the creature carrying him several feet before they both came to a stop in a tangle of limbs and ichor.

'These things are fucking heavy.' Sezel cursed as he scrambled to his feet. He tried to pull the sword out from the corpse, but the blade was lodged deep in the creature's chitinous flesh.

Before he could even free his weapon, he saw another one of the beasts making its way towards him.

His puppet had already disposed of two of them, their obsidian forms now nothing more than scattered pieces of chitin and pooling ichor, and was now engaged with a third one, their clash a symphony of steel on chitin.

Sezel pulled at the sword even tighter, his hands slick with the beast's black blood, but it was stuck fast in its flesh. 'Shit.'

Sezel abandoned the sword and jumped back, his body moving on pure instinct. At the last second, the scythe of the beast passed right in front of him and missed him by mere inches. A little later, a little less distance, and he would have been cut in two.

And now it was clear, with a chilling certainty, that they were no longer trying to keep him alive. They were trying to kill.

The beast came to a stop just a few inches from Sezel and immediately turned around, its movements were stiff. Sezel was already pulling at the sword once again, his muscles straining, half his attention focused on the beast, looking for the next attack.

But the attack didn't come. The beast turned to the other side, its pitless, empty eyes fixing on Vesta, who was tending to Shiki's wound, her hands careful as she tried to staunch the flow of blood.

Realization hit Sezel. Of course. The controller was not mindless. If it had been just the Flesh Reaper, it wouldn't think of such cunning.

"Hey, you coward," Sezel taunted, his voice a raw, desperate challenge. "What happened? Are you afraid that I will kill you?"

But the beast didn't even acknowledge his words. It coiled its powerful legs and threw its body into the air.

"God damn it," Sezel rasped, pulling at the sword with renewed desperation, his hands bleeding, his grip slipping on the slick steel. "Vesta, behind you!" he shouted.

But by the time Vesta heard him, by the time she turned, the beast was already next to her.

It landed with a crash, its legs hitting the ground with such force that they broke the hard ground underneath, sending spider-web cracks radiating outward. Just as it landed, it threw both of its scythes in a deadly slash towards Vesta.

Sezel finally pulled the sword out, the steel sliding free from the flesh. Without taking even a breath, he instantly dashed towards them, his legs pumping, his heart pounding. But it was no good. 'I won't be able to reach there, it's too far.' Sezel gritted his teeth.

Suddenly, he felt a weird sensation, a prickling at the back of his neck. His instincts screamed at him about impending danger. He barely stopped and turned when he saw a Flesh Reaper coming directly towards him with a blur of motion, its scythes raised, its form a dark, deadly missile.

He instinctively placed the sword in his hand between them. The clash sent shivers down Sezel's body, the force of the impact so great that it carried him backwards until he crashed into the wall, his spine slamming against the hard stone.

His body convulsed as a stream of white-hot pain seared through him, every nerve screaming in agony.

The beast didn't stop. It was already moving into its next attack, its scythes raised high above its head.

Sezel's gaze flickered to Vesta for a split second. She was standing beside the Flesh Reaper—no, it was just a corpse now, its obsidian form motionless, lifeless.

Vesta's hand was buried inside its chest, and with a profound, almost supernatural strength, she pulled out the black, gleaming orb—the core of the beast—from its chest. Her hand was enveloped in beautiful, dancing flames of blue and orange, their ethereal light casting eerie shadows on the walls.

'She is strong, a lot stronger than I am at least.' Sezel thought, a mixture of relief and admiration flooding through him.

He pushed himself to his feet and countered the beast's attack, his sword meeting its scythes in a clash of steel and chitin.

The beast applied more force, its inhuman strength making Sezel's body bend under the pressure with each passing moment. But after a certain point, Sezel stopped applying opposing force and rolled sideways.

With its opposing force suddenly gone, the Flesh Reaper's scythes dug deep into the ground. Before it could pull its weapons free, Sezel's sword descended in a perfect arc and beheaded it, the creature's head rolling across the rocky floor as its corpse collapsed.

He took a shaky breath and shifted his attention towards his puppet, which had already cut through dozens of enemy beasts like a hot knife through butter. But now, with four of them engaging it together, it was struggling to keep up, their coordinated assault testing even its supernatural speed and strength.

It was not entirely injured, but there were gashes on its ethereal form from which black blood flowed, staining its purple and black energy.

Sezel squinted his eyes, scanning the battlefield. No more beasts attacked him in this moment. 'No, there were at least twenty of them standing, and from my calculations, there must still be two more.'

He looked around frantically, but there were no more visible beasts. Had he counted wrong? Or maybe they were hiding, waiting for the perfect moment to strike?

Suddenly, Sezel's eyes widened as a cold, horrifying realization pierced his mind like a blade. He immediately broke into a desperate sprint towards the curtained stage, his heart hammering against his ribs.

But it was too late. Far too late.

The two missing beasts appeared in front of the stage, showcasing exactly what he had hoped, what he had prayed, would not happen.