Chapter 3: The Innocent Prisoner (2)

Most of the soldiers were still green rookies with barely any experience under their belts.

It couldn't be helped really.

The seasoned veterans with actual combat experience usually served under high-ranking Paladins. A freshly ordained Paladin—one whose head was still damp from the holy water poured during his ordination ceremony—had to make do with soldiers who'd either just graduated from training or were equally inexperienced.

So it was inevitable that they couldn't stop the barbarian from tearing into the demon with his teeth.

"Ugh... ughhh..."

"Dear God... Elga give us strength..."

"Bleurgh! Gah! Huuuurk!"

Hands frantically made the sign of the cross everywhere you looked. Instead of stepping forward to restrain the barbarian they couldn't even muster the courage to grip their weapons properly. Some of the soldiers couldn't even keep their breakfast down and started puking their guts out.

Meanwhile, Kadim ripped open the demon's throat and greedily sucked down its blood.

The nauseating stench that would turn anyone's stomach inside out didn't bother him one bit. All those experiences from his previous life had thoroughly trained his stomach for this. He gulped down the pus-like viscous blood without hesitation.

Gradually, his heart began pounding violently and a burning heat rose from his muscles.

He'd consumed enough blood now. Kadim wiped his mouth and stood up. He slowly closed his eyes and focused on the changes happening in his body.

‘Strength Enhancement... no other special effects huh.’

Not all demon blood gave the same effects. Different types and grades of demons provided different buffs. This time, it was just blood from some lowly demon, so only the most basic "Strength Enhancement" buff appeared.

But for now, it was enough.

The pain from the wound below his shoulder had completely disappeared. A faint dizziness washed over him as the blood in his veins began to boil. His already massive muscles swelled even larger.

His Unique Trait, [Blood Berserker], was starting to do its job.

Now he could definitely unleash power that transcended human limits.

First things first, he had to break free from his restraints. Kadim tensed his forearms and biceps to the max, then spread his chained arms outward.

Clank—creeeeak, tick, tick, PING!

The iron links turned white as they stretched, unable to withstand the tremendous tension before snapping one by one. Twisted and deformed metal fragments scattered in all directions.

CRACK! Thud thud thud—

In the blink of an eye, the iron chains snapped apart like rotten rope. Kadim shook off the pile of chains and flexed his hands.

It was an inhuman display of brute strength. The soldiers were completely stunned. They trembled like leaves and stepped back in unison, forgetting they were armed while their opponent was barehanded.

Not everyone panicked though.

The leader who'd actually faced demons before kept his wits about him till the end. He leveled his spear and shouted to the other soldiers.

“Don’t fall back! Form up and subdue the prisoner! He’s unarmed and wounded! A few more stabs with a spear and he’ll go down for good!”

Hesitantly, the soldiers glanced at each other and began to regroup. They managed to raise their spears and point them at the savage but none of them showed any fighting spirit.

The fact that he was unarmed was no comfort at all. Who in their right mind would want to fight a crazed barbarian with that kind of monstrous strength? They would have felt less pressure fighting a frenzied troll; at least trolls were stupid.

All the soldiers took similar stances.

Crouched low with stiff neck muscles and torsos slightly turned to the side, ready to run at any moment.

A stance like that would never withstand the blow of a blood-crazed barbarian.

Kadim tensed his calves and then sprang forward like a compressed spring. With a punch loaded with heavy momentum, he smashed the face of the soldier in front of him.

SPLAT!

The sound of a nose bone shattering sickeningly.

The soldier's entire face caved in around the point of impact and his eyeballs popped out. It looked just like a watermelon smashed by a warhammer.

"...Huh?"

The next victim was the soldier next to him who stood there looking bewildered.

CRACK—

Kadim struck the soldier's lower jaw. The jaw joint tore apart and his bottom teeth flew off along with the entire jawbone. The soldier collapsed face-first, bleeding all over the place, then took an additional blow to the top of his skull that rolled his eyes back for good.

"Uh ugh AAAAHHHHH!!"

One panicked soldier grabbed his spear and charged recklessly. Kadim simply shifted his body to the side and easily dodged the blind thrust. Then he grabbed the spear shaft and lightly applied pressure with his thumb to snap the spear in half.

CRACK—

“A short spear will do. Thanks for the gift.”

"Wh-what?"

The broken spear was now the barbarian's weapon. Kadim closed the distance and moved in for the kill. The soldier's confused exclamation became his last words.

THUNK—

The spearhead pierced right through his throat. When Kadim pulled it out, blood spurted from the coin-sized hole.  In that split second, he sensed movement from behind.

Kadim wiped the blood splatter from his face and immediately spun around to hurl the short spear.

SWOOSH—

The glint of metal flashed through the air and impaled the abdomen of a soldier who had been stealthily approaching. His belly skin and intestines were skewered by the spearhead and pulled out through his back. The soldier dropped his weapon and collapsed, screaming like a little girl.

"EEEEEEEEE—"

CRACK!

The screaming didn't last long. Kadim's fist crushed the fallen soldier's skull. Clear spinal fluid mixed with blood and poured out as the soldier crumpled to the ground, never to rise again.

Kadim yanked the short spear from the soldier’s abdomen and, with a blank expression, stared down at the remaining men. The soldiers’ faces were as white as wax and their shoulders trembled like leaves.

Four men had lost their lives in an instant. The soldiers felt like they were trapped in a nightmare. This couldn't even be called a battle.

It was a massacre, a merciless slaughter.

Even their loosely formed ranks fell apart. The soldiers nearby collapsed as their legs gave out. The ones farther away threw down their weapons and started running while screaming.

"Uh ughhh s-spare me spare me..."

"AAAAHHH AAAAHHHHH!!"

"It's a demon... that thing's a demon!"

“He’s not a demon, he’s human! Everyone, get a grip!! It’s just one enemy! If we all rush him, we can win!”

The leader's shouts were useless. Nobody believed his words. Not even the man who'd spoken them himself.

The leader thought to himself that even if they'd brought twice as many soldiers, he'd still question whether they could handle that savage. Numbers were meaningless against such overwhelming power. A flock of chicks, no matter how numerous, could never stop a lion.

So to stop a lion you needed another lion.

"What... what have you done you heathen...! How dare you... my soldiers..."

Elga's little lion cub finally bared his fangs, albeit belatedly.

The soldiers—even the leader—forgot their dignity and hid behind the Paladin. The Paladin grimly surveyed the corpses of his men then burned with youthful rage.

"You filthy bastard! Did you sell your soul to demons to gain that power? In the name of Elga, the sacred guide of light, I'll pass judgment on you, heathen!"

Kadim studied the Paladin carefully.

Left foot forward, right foot behind, with the heel slightly raised, and in his hands the same long spear that had pierced below Kadim's shoulder. Right now, he held the spear shaft with one hand, but he'd switch to a two-handed grip soon enough.

His equipment and stance were far superior to those ragtag soldiers but still clumsy. Compared to the monster-like high-ranking Paladins he'd encountered in his first life, this was laughable.

But he couldn't let his guard down. His own combat ability wasn't exactly impressive either. He was no longer the Great Warrior of Atala who'd beheaded an Archdemon with a single axe.

‘...I'm just a savage prisoner riding high on a single buff.’

The demon blood he'd drunk this time had no effects that increased defense or recovery. One hit to a vital spot could send him straight to hell.

Kadim picked up a fallen spear from the ground and made up his mind.

Let's finish him with this if possible.

SWOOSH!!

A fierce roar tore through the air as a spear with a force comparable to a bolt from a ballista flew through the air.

The soldiers' eyes couldn't even properly track where the spear was flying.

THUD—!

Surprisingly, the Paladin dodged it. The spear only tore up a patch of innocent grass and dug into the earth. Though he appeared slow in his plate armor, the Paladin was far more agile than his lightly armed soldiers.

Seeing this Kadim clicked his tongue.

‘So he didn't get his ordination for nothing.’

But for a split second, the Paladin’s eyes wavered. If he'd been hit by that he would've died instantly. He'd dodged it reflexively but the fear of death was now seared into his mind.

The Paladin couldn’t accept his own fear. Gritting his teeth, he thrust his spear toward the sky.

“Oh, Elga, Lord of the Eternal Light! Bestow your servant the power to smite this wicked servant of demons!”

A pure white flash danced down from the sky and flowed into his body through the spear. It was one of Elga's divine arts that burned away fear and enhanced physical abilities. The fear disappeared from the Paladin's pupils and only determination burned quietly within them.

With the gods at his side, there was nothing to fear now. Shouting the sacred name, he charged like lightning.

"For Elga!"

A collision was inevitable. Kadim also rushed toward the Paladin at the same time.

The spearhead lunged for his heart, then withdrew the moment he dodged to seek another opening before striking again like a venomous viper.

Whoosh whoosh whoosh!

The blue steel radiated chills as it traced vicious trajectories one after another. The spear shaft was pulled tight, then thrust out targeting openings. The blade grazed Kadim’s right cheek, leaving a line of bloody frost.

But Kadim gradually felt his tension fading.

The Paladin's movements were too honest and predictable.

Martial arts without experience as their foundation were easy to read no matter how sharp or fierce they looked. Especially when your opponent had experience slaughtering countless humans and demons.

Though he'd lost his physical abilities, his experience remained intact. Kadim could clearly see how his opponent would move. After grazing his cheek, that spearhead couldn't land another hit on Kadim at all.

The counterattack came in an instant.

‘He’ll go for the side this time.’

Kadim left his flank open invitingly and waited. Sure enough, the spearhead flew straight toward his side.

Whoosh!

Kadim twisted his body and easily avoided the blade, then darted to close the distance like lightning.

The panicked Paladin tried to pull the spear shaft back for a shorter grip, but it was a meaningless effort. Kadim had already clamped the spear shaft firmly under his armpit.

"Wh-what...?"

It wasn't just the spearhead that was wreathed in chill. Bone-piercing cold seeped through his skin, but Kadim endured it. The spear shaft remained as immovable as if it were wedged in a rock crevice.

If he'd let go of the shaft immediately, he might've been able to escape. But the panicked Paladin couldn't think of that. His young face turned deathly pale.

Kadim spoke in a solemn voice as if pronouncing a death sentence.

“I hope you can be with your goddamn god in the afterlife, you little pup of Elga.”

"No no... s-spare me..."

CRACK—!

The Paladin's skull was also crushed by the barbarian’s fist. Blood gushed from his ears and nose. Despite his special weapon and superior martial arts, his end wasn't much different from that of an ordinary soldier.

But death wasn't the end of it. Kadim's eyes gleamed with vicious light as he stared at the corpse. He still had a debt to repay to this Paladin.

He gripped the Paladin's spear.

Crackle

The area of his palm instantly froze over. A rejection phenomenon to anyone other than the owner from wielding it. Kadim endured the cold and forcefully stabbed the area below the Paladin's shoulder.

KRAK! Shunk—

The spear pierced through both the breastplate and the upper pectoral muscle. The exact same spot where he'd been stabbed. The Paladin twitched his shoulders reflexively as the cold penetrated him before going still. Kadim quickly released the spear shaft before getting frostbite.

With that, the debt was paid.

Silence consumed the plains.

With the futile death of the Paladin who'd been their last hope, the soldiers trembled as if having seizures. Not a single one of them still felt a sense of duty to carry out their mission.

"N-no way... Sir Linton..."

"AAAAHHHHH!!!"

"RUN AWAAAAY!!"

The soldiers fled the scene, some crawling on the ground like dogs, others scrambling on two feet for their lives.

Swoosh swoosh—

But Kadim wouldn’t leave any loose ends. Kadim picked up their discarded spears and returned them to their owners. Soon large thorns sprouted from the soldiers' backs and they collapsed without taking more than a few steps.

"What... what are you...? Are you really a servant of a demon...? How do you have such power..."

SPLAT!

He didn’t spare the leader who'd held his position to the end. He'd killed every single soldier without exception.

Kadim stood still for a moment. He calmly closed his eyes and focused on the changes in his body.

His muscles were settling down and the pain from his wound returning. Since the blood he drank was from a low-grade demon and a spoiled one at that, the duration of the buff was predictably short. But he wasn’t just focused on the buff.

‘The side effects… still faint, for now.’

Fortunately, the side effects didn't seem to be hitting him faster in this second playthrough. In his first life, the madness had only truly set in after drinking the blood of over a dozen mid-grade demons. If the conditions were similar, the blood of a single low-grade demon wouldn’t even register.

Kadim opened his eyes again. His gaze swept over the corpses of the Paladin and the soldiers.

A bloody mess was scattered across the tranquil plains. He'd opened the curtain on his second life with ruthless slaughter.

"..."

And yet, he felt no guilt.

He'd seen this much blood countless times in his first life. It was kill or be killed. If he felt guilt over every little thing, he would never survive in this godforsaken world.

Clank clank—

Not everyone at the scene was dead. The prisoners cautiously revealed themselves. The prisoners cautiously emerged from their hiding spots. Most of them had taken advantage of the lax security to hide in the nearby bushes.

The prisoners had also witnessed Kadim's superhuman strength firsthand. They were greatly shocked too but none of them ran away. Nobody considered Kadim an enemy.

Rather, the prisoners saw the barbarian who'd driven off the soldiers as a benefactor or a suitable outlaw to become their leader. Some were already calculating in their heads, planning to team up with him for a big score.

One prisoner approached Kadim, hoping that if he could just sweet-talk this brute, he could get him to do all sorts of dirty work for him.

"Hey there, brother! That was some impressive work! I’ve got something to discuss, but first, could you help me out with these chains?”

Those expectations were shattered along with his skull.

CRACK—

Kadim left a brief response to the prisoner whose forehead now had a dent in the middle.

"No."

 

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