Chapter 448

Chapter 448: Decapitation?

“It’s time, Ellena.”

“Hmm.”

After Ellena responded, she retrieved her wand from the Magic Backpack. First, she cast agility-enhancing spells upon herself and the young man, then bolstered his strength and defense with supplementary enchantments.

Though Ellena belonged to the S-class Adventurer Squad “Bright Day,” she herself wasn’t an S-class adventurer but a Class A advanced adventurer specializing in support magic.

“Ellena, focus on protecting yourself. Stay here and watch how I handle this behemoth.”

“Hugue, you do the same.”

With those words, the young man charged toward the mountainous flesh ahead, his speed amplified by the woman’s spells.

Only when he closed within thirty meters did the flesh mountain detect this swiftly approaching member of the human race.

“ROAR!!!”

Tentacles ravaging the town and devouring humans snapped open their massive maws—teeth still smeared with human flesh—bellowing monstrously as they lanced toward the youth.

“Tch, even more repulsive up close.”

Seeing over a dozen tentacles hurtling toward him, Hugue remained unmoving while activating his Magic Backpack. Suddenly, a gleaming silver spear nearly his own height materialized in his grasp, blazing under the sunlight.

“Disgusting filth. You’re unworthy of my longsword. I’ll test this newly acquired Silver Flash Spear instead.”

With every sweep, the spear cracked thunderously through the air, testament to its wielder’s immense strength.

Ordinary tentacles tore like parchment beneath the spear, while the later-evolved colossal ones required marginally more effort yet still shattered all the same.

“I see. So these giant tentacles slaughtered those worthless black ants? But wounding me? You fall short!”

After this initial probing assault, Hugue’s lips curled into a triumphant smirk, believing he’d gauged the monster’s capabilities.

The spear whirled left and right, severing and pulverizing every tentacle surging forward.

Thirty meters vanished in moments. For the first time, Hugue stood before the colossal flesh mountain.

Frowning at the squirming, living flesh within its mass, he drove the spear deep without hesitation.

Thunk—

The spear pierced the flesh mountain’s hide with unexpected ease.

Blood oozed from the wound… yet against the creature’s gargantuan form, this trickle was insignificant—comparable to a hair-thin needle prick drawing a bead of blood on human skin.

But something else proved harder for Hugue to accept:

His spear became irretrievably lodged within the flesh mountain!

It felt… as though the weight of a mountain now pressed upon the weapon.

Wait—could this be the creature’s sheer mass?

Attacking from below seemed unwise then. Should his target be its head?

Hugue lifted his gaze. The flesh mountain now towered nearly twenty meters tall, its “head” still a writhing mass of tissue bearing no resemblance to a typical monster’s vulnerable point.

Yet striking from above might cleave away a portion of its body entirely!

These thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant. As Hugue strained against the spear trapped in the flesh mountain, another wave of twenty or thirty tentacles shrieked toward him.

“Hmph.”

Hugue had no time to activate his skill to draw the spear. Unwilling to be ensnared by the revolting tentacles, he stomped his foot against the ground.

With a thunderous *bang*, the ground shattered beneath the impact, fissures spiderwebbing outwards. Hugue used the momentum to leap onto the mountain of flesh, while the spot where he had stood mere moments before was pummeled by the tentacles, utterly destroying the already fractured earth.

Landing upon the mountain of flesh, Hugue did not pause.

As he sprinted towards its head, a sharp silver longsword, nearly half his height and gleaming with a cold light, materialized in his grasp.

Bearing the title ‘Sword King,’ it was only natural that the S-class adventurer Hugue was most adept with the longsword.

While he ran across the slope-like body of the mountain of flesh, its surface writhed and transformed almost everywhere. Tentacles erupted, lashing out towards Hugue with frenzied aggression.

“Whoa, it’s getting desperate,” the young man murmured, not alarmed but pleased.

The mountain of flesh’s intense reaction confirmed the effectiveness of his actions.

Although, the sheer number of tentacles was indeed considerable…

The young man’s sword moved with blinding speed. To an ordinary observer, the blade itself would be invisible, only the blurred afterimages of his movements discernible.

Each slash drew a spray of crimson, severing one, sometimes several tentacles cleanly in half.

Whether tentacles thick as washbasins or those requiring three or four strong men to encircle, all fell to a single, decisive strike.

Yet, the closer he got to the mountain’s summit, the denser the onslaught of tentacles became.

Initially, he maintained his sprint, but soon, forced to counter the relentless attacks, his pace slowed.

“An S-class monster… I did underestimate you somewhat,” the young man admitted.

He drew a deep, sharp breath. His eyes snapped wide open, a strange light flickering within them.

His foot slammed heavily onto the fleshy surface. An invisible aura exploded outward, washing over the nearby tentacles and freezing them rigid for a crucial instant.

Seizing the moment, light flashed along the blade in Hugue’s hand as if he had unleashed a sword technique.

He swept the longsword in a wide circle around his body. A brilliant silver arc of light, perfectly circular, materialized and then surged outward with a howl.

“Full Moon Slash.”

As the young man’s whisper faded, the countless tentacles caught within the arc’s path were instantly sheared into segments, raining down with a wet slapping sound.

Before new tentacles could fully form, Hugue propelled himself upwards, landing squarely atop the mountain of flesh’s head.

“Now it’s my turn. Die, you revolting lump of flesh—”

Gripping the sword with both hands, the young man seemed to gather power for a formidable strike. The aura radiating from him promised a technique far surpassing the previous Full Moon Slash.

The upper torso of the mountain of flesh convulsed violently in dozens of places, as if something within strained to burst forth.

But…

“Too late! Take this!”

The young man roared. His sword erupted with dazzling radiance. With both hands, he brought the blade down in a powerful diagonal slash aimed at the mountain’s crown.

*Squelch—*

The sound of the blade, amplified by the searing light extending from it, tearing through flesh echoed sharply.

In the next instant, mirroring the severing of a human head, a massive chunk of flesh was cleaved from the mountain’s peak. Blood cascaded like a waterfall from the gaping wound.