A black orb pierced through the ground and appeared simultaneously with Shin’s words. Unlike the time when he saw it earlier, this black orb had red lines drawn upon it; traveling like blood vessels and pulsating like a heart.
“The one that came up a while ago was just an empty shell, huh?”
That explained why the Lord fell so quickly. Apparently, the empty shell was just a decoy so it could gather the demon essences in the entire plains for the main body.
After the appearance of the black orb, a noticeably larger shake occurred. Gigantic arms emerged in sequence, with which it was even possible to grab a King class Skull Face. 3 pairs, or 6 arms, gripped the ground and dragged its main body out.
Its head was decorated with twisted horns, its body was a collection of Skull Faces, its lower body had the impression of a crustacean with 4 pairs of legs, and it had 5 scorpion-like tails. (Editor’s note: Crustacean – a type of crab)
It might still have obtained the ability of the Pecker Hollow, too. Its total length exceeded 20 mels, so judging from that standard, it was different from a conventional Skull Face.
As the orb was absorbed and it fused with the gigantic body, a demon-fire lit-up inside its eye sockets.
“GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA――――――――!!!!!!!”
The roar emitted was also accompanied by a shock-wave. Though Shin and Schnee were exceptions, it would not be strange if whole bodies of average adventurers were blown away just from the wind pressure.
“Seriously?”
“It’s look like it.”
“If that’s the case, we should get serious too.”
Facing the Lord who issued its roar, Shin also changed his equipment. He selected the same equipment from when he challenged Origin before, using the shortcut system which registered a specific set, and changed his equipment instantaneously.
Deep crimson arm guards and leg guards covered his hands and legs, and a fluttering black long coat that had a muffler with red lightning streaks going down it appeared.
The scabbard of the 《Ancient》 grade katana,『True Moon』 was removed from its clasp, and the thumb of his left hand flexed out slightly so he could instantly draw out the katana.
With the change of equipment, Shin’s presence also changed with the new appearance.
Was it the equipment’s effect or that his focus changed? It gave off an overpowering feeling that wasn’t there a short while ago, due to the figure that was wrapped in red and black body armor.
The demon-flames, upon seeing Shin’s appearance and the glare from the two people, momentarily flickered in a big way. An intimidating feeling was given off by Shin, which was doubled due to the pressure received from his presence as well as from his new equipment set.
“…Let’s go.”
Loosening his katana for immediate use, his right hand was affixed to the handle.
He invoked 【Shukuchi】* silently, and instantly rushed into the Lord’s proximity. (TL note: teleportation power that’s capable of moving vast distances in a single step.)
The four arms swung toward Shin. Each held a jet black greatsword that was like solid darkness. It was clear that they possessed a heavy mass, and that was not a false impression as they each created a tornado in their wake.
The greatswords reached Shin first. The moment the greatswords entered the katana’s proximity, the handle vanished from the sheath and a red trail drew an arc in the air.
The four greatswords were intercepted despite only one sound reverberating. Shin jumped onto the Lord’s chest, as all the greatswords were repelled by the katana’s power.
The Lord was going to defend itself with its two remaining arms, but it felt a slight chill and right away re-routed one of its arms to over its head. Without any pause, metals clashed, and a sound reverberated as large sparks instantly flew.
It was an attack from Schnee’s 『Lazuline Flame』, an attack that hit the Lord’s blind spot. It made use of a strong point of ninjas, as the highest rank of assassins, as it was not easy to exchange attacks from the blind spot. However, undead monsters originally didn’t depend on senses. That reaction couldn’t have existed without the Lord’s perception skill that was strengthened outside of specifications. Though Schnee objectively understood the ability itself from that movement, it was also enough to understand just how much the Lord deviated from the standard of monsters called Skull Face.
“After all, it really is different from the existing monsters, huh?”
She landed using the recoil from the blow exchange, and analyzed the opponent’s ability while exchanging blows with the tails from the blind spot.
The pursuit of Schnee was slow due to Shin who landed on its chest. Though the Lord tried to intercept Shin with its other arm, the previous four arms and the one greatsword left couldn’t catch or do anything to Shin. The remaining greatsword was broken by a single blow from 【Blade Breaker】, and the Lord retreated several mels from that aftermath. The single blow from Shin, who was no longer going easy, became an unbelievable offensive power that corresponding to the stats that rose, showed the overwhelming force difference.
Even Schnee, who knew of Shin’s ability well, was astonished at that power.
“Swish!!”
The Lord, which while retreating earlier prepared its posture began a pursuit of Shin. The Lord, which had lost its weapons earlier, crossed its arms in a defense posture. When the katana swung down toward the Lord with its arms guarded, it created sparks as all of the arms were cut off and were blown away.
“GURUAAAAAAAA!!!!”
The tails approached with a war cry, and began attacking Shin in earnest. The four tails had saw-like blades attached, and although they struck out from every direction, Shin jumped toward the Lord before the pointed ends arrived.
A strike from its arm was unleashed in desperation, but Shin evaded it with the martial arts movement skill 【Flying Shadow】 that enabled double jumps in the air, and so Shin came closer to the Lord. The destination, while he evaded, was the Lord’s body; the location of the solar plexus in a human.
It could be said that the distance between the two was almost zero, the splendid gap for Shin was partly due to the differences in physique. And it was the place where the core of the Skull Face had just been absorbed. The Lord tried to gain some distance, but Shin had already prepared his attack prior to its action, and everything was too late.
“――――tsu!!”
A sharp exhale together with the katana swinging downward.
He unleashed the katana system martial art skill 【Mountain Cleaver】.
Even though he didn’t have any firm footing in the air, the stroke from Shin showed perfection and thorough power.
The visual sword trails were a mix between red and black lines that penetrated the Lord’s left shoulder from the air, went through the body, cut through one of the right legs that flew off, and left a deep cut in the ground from the aftermath.
“GIIIIIIIIIIIAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!”