I Was a Sword When I Reincarnated (LN) - Volume 9 - Chapter 5

Chapter 5:

Black Cats

“POOR GIRL,” Theraclede gloated. “I know Malice makes you crazy, but I never thought it would make a servant of the Evil One wish for the happiness of a child.”

“Aah…”

“Hmph.”

The giant man-Fiend lost interest in Murelia as she slowly melted away into a fine black mist.

What was going on? Did Murelia really just want us to save that child from Basharl? Had everything else been an attempt to cover her true intentions? The Krishna legend, her vengeance against the beastmen… was all of it a ploy? Johann said that the Magnolias possessed a rare skill that allowed them to control Fiends. As soon as Romeo came of age, Basharl would use him for its own ends. They may

even sacrifice him before that, and Murelia had known that it would be hard for her to save him with Linford and the dungeon master breathing down her neck.

But was she telling the truth? I mean, this was Murelia we were talking about.

Then Theraclede showed up and, before we could find out for certain, she was dead.

When the hell did he get here…?

The Malice coming out of Theraclede was even greater than Murelia’s. When we’d met in Bulbola, I’d been able to Identify him, but not anymore. He didn’t look much different, but he was more of a Fiend than before.

Urslars frowned and Kiara turned pale, backing off and readying her weapon. Goosebumps prickled down Fran’s arms.

Theraclede was an anomaly before Linford transformed him into a Fiend, or the alchemist Zelyse operated on him and turned him into a Hellion. Of the many people Zelyse had experimented on, Theraclede was the only one to survive the crystal implantation. Now he had the power of that crystal and the strength of a Fiend besides. Even so, I never imagined he could become as strong as he was now.

Perhaps Cannibalize, the skill he’d acquired on becoming a Hellion, had something to do with it. It allowed him to absorb the powers of anyone he killed, and the more Fiends he killed, the stronger he became. I didn’t have a problem with him taking out more Fiends, but the fact he had become so strong in such a short amount of time was frankly terrifying.

“What are you?” Urslars asked.

“Name’s Theraclede,” the Hellion answered, shrugging off Urslar’s waves of intimidation.

“You a Fiend?” Urslars asked. “Never seen anything like you before.”

“It’s a good question. Truth is, I’m not so sure myself. Old Linford stuck a Fiendstone in me, and that bastard Zelyse put a modified crystal right on top of that. But who cares what I am? That doesn’t change how much fun I can have.”

“So you’re battle-crazy,” said Urslars. “Makes sense. You do look strong.”

“Why, thank you, Mr. Godsword user. Appreciate it. Ku ha ha ha ha!”

With every laugh, Theraclede released a great cloud of black Malice that exerted a physical force on us. This was terrible. It was really terrible. Murelia might be dead, but in her place was something even worse. We couldn’t even press an offensive with Fiend Crusher Revelation. Urslars was probably only moments away from going berserk. The only option we had left was to get the hell out of here. Quickly.

Tch!

But my Dimension Gate was still refusing to work. Was Murelia’s anti-warp barrier still active somehow? Or had Theraclede reapplied it? Either way, we were trapped.

“Hey,” said Theraclede, turning on Fran. “I recognize you. You’re the short one from Bulbola.”

“…”

“How’s that little puppy of yours doing? Hiding, is he? I promise I won’t bite. Much.”

Grrr…

Easy, boy.

Woof…

“…”

“What is it?” Theraclede asked. “Cat got your tongue?”

In truth, Fran couldn’t move a muscle. Not while Theraclede was staring at her like that. Jet was raring to go, but it was best for him to stay hidden for now.

Fortunately, Theraclede lost interest in Fran and turned back on Urslars, grinning like a madman. The sight was so disconcerting that Fran, Mea, and the others started shuddering.

“Godsword user, huh? Always wanted to fight one.”

“You think you have a chance?” Urslars asked.

“I might. Besides, it’ll be fun. You have the same condition I do, right?”

“Don’t compare us,” Urslars growled. “Although I doubt it would matter much to anyone caught up in it.”

“So that must make you really really strong, right? Ka ha ha! Nice!”

Theraclede identified Urslars as prey and started emitting a murderous aura. They were only exchanging words, but they might as well have been exchanging blows. Theraclede was deadly enough to give any normal person a heart attack.

Gwendartha fell to his knees, and the maids backed away until they hit the wall. They glanced at each other, surprised, as though they were retreating despite themselves.

“Tch.” Urslars clicked his tongue. “Come on, Kiara!”

“It’s no good!” Kiara called back.

She was trying to get the door open, but it was no use. And now Theraclede’s murderous aura was reaching its apex.

“Ready?” he asked Urslars.

“Hurry up, Kiara!” Urslars shouted. “And try not to die!”

The giants crashed together, and Theraclede made the first strike.

“Raaagh!”

Theraclede’s Fiendstone blade clashed with the Earth Sword Gaia. They were evenly matched. Considering Gaia’s name and power, it really was a fitting weapon for Urslars.

The pitch-black blade fell upon the rising Godsword and a shrill metallic ring echoed through the room, followed by a shockwave. Fran and the others had evacuated to the edge of the room, but they could still feel the pressure, even from there.

The two giants fought each other, throwing up shockwaves of rubble and dirt. Each strike was designed to kill. We needed to get out of here. I couldn’t imagine how much power was between these two, but I had no intention of getting between them. I was pretty strong, but I’d get turned into scrap metal.

“Gaaaah!”

“Raaaaaah!”

Madness and Malice did their best to kill each other. They’d seemed like equals at first, but Urslars was the better swordsman. One in every five of his attacks hit the mark. Although Theraclede regenerated quickly, I could feel his Malice drop with every hit that Urslars landed. From the look of it, Godswords were pretty effective against Fiends too.

At this rate, Urslars just might have it. But Kiara was looking anxious. So was Urslars, for that matter.

“This is bad,” the old cat muttered.

“What’s wrong?”

“Look at Urslars’ horn. See how it’s getting redder? That’s a warning sign. The Mad Ogre is coming.”

This whole situation was going from bad to worse. Every time their swords clashed, Urslars’ burned a little redder. Soon, crimson mana was roaring through his whole body.

“That red is wild mana,” Kiara said. “The skill has triggered!”

Try as he might, Urslars couldn’t delay Mad Ogre Form forever.

Even if the fight ended now, it would be too late. There was no stopping him.

He was in no condition to fight Theraclede to begin with, and now his sanity was slipping.

“Raaaagh!”

“Wooo!” Theraclede cheered. “No wonder you have a Godsword!”

Urslars attacks become more frantic and powerful. He slammed Gaia into the ground, and spidery cracks spilled out across the arena floor. Could he…destroy this dungeon? The floor of the goblin dungeon split when Fran attacked it, but it probably varied between dungeons. This one seemed unfazed by Urslars’ rage. Cracks aside, his Land Spells and physical attacks didn’t affect the terrain. Which meant that we may never find a way out of here if we couldn’t demolish the dungeon to escape… but after everything we’d seen today, who knew how much common sense applied? A single attack from Urslars was more powerful than all of our attacks put together. It was frustrating and, more than that, it was terrifying.

“Aaaaargh!”

“Raaaaah!”

The titans were on a rampage! Theraclede’s attacks added to Urslars’ destruction.

Gwendartha’s almost done for!

The rest of us were managing to avoid the shockwaves, but Gwendartha couldn’t keep up. Worse, the battle was only getting more intense.

I doubted Urslars even knew what he was doing any more. He and Theraclede were both using attacks that covered a lot of ground.

“Can you open it yet, Quina?!” Kiara asked.

The maid had taken over work on the door since Urslars went berserk but was forced to dodge the shockwaves every time they came our way. She was barely making any progress.

“I apologize. I’m not having much luck, and I have to keep stopping.”

“Mea, Fran, Mianoa. Cover her!”

We all threw up barriers around Quina and hoped that Gwendartha could look after himself for now. I never once took my eyes off Urslars and Theraclede. Their mana outputs were rising all the time! As I watched, Urslars skipped back and made a grand gesture.

“Uaaaaaagh!”

He pointed the Earth Sword Gaia straight up, and the smile vanished from Theraclede’s face. Whatever was coming, the Hellion was clearly worried about it.

“GODSWORD RELEASE!” Urslars shouted.

As soon as the words left his mouth, a wave of divine light burst from the sword. The Godsword’s mana engulfed Urslars, and he was swallowed up by a pillar of light.

“Urgh…”

The shockwave rattled the walls and threw out clouds of dust and rubble. It felt like we were standing next to a dynamite explosion. We couldn’t escape, the best we could do was hold our ground. Mana Sense and Presence Sense were useless. Powerful mana flooded the room. Danger Sense wouldn’t stop pinging.

So, this is what a Godsword can do!

Urslars released his Godsword’s power with that shout. He was only returning his weapon to its original form, but the mana output was insane! Could I really consider myself on the same level as this? I finally understood why the Godswords were feared as superweapons.

You all right, Fran?!

Hm!

The air was full of dust and we could barely see two feet ahead of us. There was no choice but to wait it out. A few seconds later, I felt an aura spill from the center of the dust cloud. It was Urslars. As the fog cleared, he was still the same as before, but the sword in his hand was utterly transformed.

Is that its true form…? It doesn’t even look like a sword anymore.

It looked like no weapon I had ever seen. The simple two-handed sword now had a long, curved blade and five large spikes pointing inwards. The tip of the blade was twisted, and a huge lump of iron was attached to the end, giving it the appearance of a hammer crossed with a pickaxe. The hammer part was huge, and the thick blade was over two meters long—twice the height, width, and length of a barrel. It didn’t look like something that could be wielded by a single person. It was more of a battering ram than a sword.

I Identified it, but the only thing I could see was its name, which had changed to Land Sword Gaia. With its true form unlocked, it was so powerful I couldn’t even scan it properly.

Name: Land Sword Gaia

Attack: 4700

Mana Conductivity: SS+

Skill: —

That was all I could get. This weapon was literally beyond description.

“Uraaaaaah!”

Urslars lunged for Theraclede again. He was moving so fast now that I struggled to keep track of him. Somehow, Theraclede managed to keep up, but then I guess he was just as much of a monster as Urslars.

He raised his greatsword to block, but the Godsword easily overpowered it. Theraclede tried to twist out of the way, but it was useless. He’d barely avoided the blade when an unseen force crushed half of his body flat. The ground beneath our feet rumbled. The remaining side of Theraclede’s body struggled to keep its balance. That should have been enough to kill any man, but then Theraclede wasn’t exactly human anymore. Before we knew it, the right side of his body regenerated and he was back on his feet.

“Holy shit!” He laughed. “Now that’s a Godsword!”

This lunatic was battle-mad!

“Gaaaah!”

“Ha ha ha ha! Come on! I’ll kill you and take that thing from you!”

Theraclede unleashed a powerful wave of Malice with every swing, and even a graze was enough to do damage. Every time Urslars struck out with Gaia, the whole dungeon shook. Fran wavered on her feet. Rubble scattered in every direction at sickening speed. It was becoming difficult to survive even watching this fight.

“Urgh…aaaarrrrrgggh!”

Their blades clashed again. This time, Urslars leaned into the strike, putting his body weight and all of his mana behind it. He was moving faster and faster.

“Tch!”

“Raaaaagh!”

Before Theraclede could react, Urslars had a clean strike at him. He managed to throw up a barrier at the last second, but Gaia shattered it with ease. A huge explosion rocked the dungeon. Debris punctured my barriers and shrapnel was everywhere. Before I could equip Physical Immunity, Fran was hurt.

You okay?

Yes. Jet took the hit.

“Grr…”

Good job, boy.

The impact was greatly reduced by the barrier, and Jet had shielded Fran at the last moment. He suffered for it, but he looked quietly satisfied. I healed them both.

Back in the shadows, boy. How are the others doing?

“You guys all right?” Fran shouted.

“We’re fine. But Gwendartha took the hit for us!”

“I’m coming over!” Fran called.

Gwendartha had covered everyone standing in front of the door. When we reached him, we found that his body was riddled with holes. His arms and legs were ripped to pieces, and he was losing a lot of blood. He was at death’s door.

Crap!

“Hm!”

Fran and I pelted him with Greater Heals and dragged him away from danger. Even so, he wouldn’t be moving for a while. A few more attacks like that and we’d all be joining him. I doubted the Godsword was even at full power yet.

Kiara turned to look back at the door. “Quina?”

“Sorry, I still can’t get it open.”

“I didn’t want to risk it,” Kiara said, looking back at Urslars. “But we have to do something about him.”

“What do you propose?” Quina asked.

“His berserk state deactivates if he takes enough damage.”

“So if we all attack him together…”

“But we’ll still be on the receiving end of his attacks if we fail! Like I say, it’s a risk.”

Too much of a risk, if it could bring that Godsword’s wrath down on us.

I had a better plan.

Fran, I’m going to try something.

Skill Taker…?

Yeah.

If I could take Mad Ogre Form away from Urslars, we might just have a chance. But this wasn’t without risks either.

First, we had no idea if Mad Ogre Form would deactivate once I removed it from Urslars. Second, it would make Urslars defenseless against Theraclede. Still, I had to give it a shot. We couldn’t go on like this. Not without getting someone killed.

“Let me try,” Fran said. “I can stop him.”

Kiara frowned. “What? How?”

“Well…”

Fran gave them the quick rundown, including the risk that she might go berserk instead. We wouldn’t know until we tried.

“But you don’t know for sure?” Kiara asked.

“Hm.”

“Do it. It’s better than sitting here and doing nothing.”

Kiara knew we were running out of time. Even Mea was having a hard time swatting away the debris now.

Here we go.

“Hm.”

I pushed aside my nerves and focused on Urslars, finding my way onto his skill list.

Skill Taker!

I felt the invisible force tug at something inside of Urslars. A mysterious heat flooded my body.

“Graaaaagh!”

I’d done it. Urslars stopped moving and started writhing in pain.

“Guaaaah!”

“What’s up with you?”

Urslars fell to his knees, and Theraclede stopped attacking to see what was wrong. A few seconds later, Urslars went completely still.

“Something…happened…” he gasped.

But he didn’t know what. He looked around just before his lights went out. Mad Ogre Form was gone, and Urslars was himself again. Kiara approached him cautiously.

Now you just need to unequip Mad Ogre Form, said Fran.

Yeah…

“Teacher?”

“Woof!”

Huh…?

“Te…er!”

What? Who was that? Oh, it was Fran. Of course it was Fran.

Eaaaaaaaagh!

The urge to destroy suddenly rose within me. The world went red.

What was I doing?! Why was I just sitting here when my User was in danger? Why wasn’t I fighting?!

There was an Ogre and a Fiend in this room. They were going to hurt Fran!

They had to die!

Fight! Destroy! Kill them all!

Haaaaargh!

Fight!

Destroy Fran’s enemies!

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!

Mea

It all happened so fast.

Fran told us that she could seal Mad Ogre Form, and Master Kiara agreed to let her do it. Fran focused and readied her sword, and then Urslars just…stopped fighting. Somehow, Fran managed to pacify him. We’d all avoided death. Now we just had to deal with Theraclede.

I walked up to Fran. “You did it.”

“…”

“Fran? What’s wrong?”

“Teacher?”

“Woof!”

Huh…?

“Teacher! Teacher!”

Eaaaaaaaagh!

A telepathic scream rang on the inside of my head.

“Was that…Teacher?”

Before Fran could answer, her sword shot out of her hands and swept about the room, screaming like a wounded animal.

Gaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!

It fired a beam of light straight at Theraclede.

“What the hell is that?!” he said, looking surprised.

He dodged the lightning bolt, but the sword was already rushing in toward him.

Fran stood frozen in shock and white as bone. She wasn’t in control. She hurried after the sword.

“Teacher!”

“She’s not controlling it!” I cried. “Teacher’s gone berserk!”

“What’s going on, Mea?” Master Kiara asked.

She had no idea what was happening, but she could see that something wasn’t right.

“Teacher…” I told her.

“What? You’ve never called me that before.”

“No, not you! It’s Fran’s Teacher!”

“What? What about them?”

Oh, no. She didn’t know about him. Should I tell her? Fran had entrusted me with this secret. I couldn’t just betray her.

“My lady,” Quina cut in. “Calm yourself. I apologize. She is just as confused as the rest of us.”

“Quina?” Kiara asked. “Do you know what’s going on?”

Quina shook her head. “I can only guess. It seems Fran’s sword has gone berserk, possibly as a result of stealing Sir Urslars’ skill. It must be a powerful enchanted blade to do such a thing.”

“I see,” said Kiara. “So it has Mad Ogre Form now?”

“I assume that is what’s happened, yes.”

Thank the gods that Quina was so quick on her feet! Unfortunately, Teacher was still raging.

Gaaaah!

He brought three thick pillars of lightning down on Theraclede. Three of them?! And each powerful enough to leave a crater in the dungeon floor. I broke out in a cold sweat. Those were definitely grand spells, and he fired off three at once? How powerful was this sword?!

“So now we have a crazy sword,” said Kiara. “It even has the same red aura as Urslars’ did!”

Even burnt to a crisp by lightning, Theraclede regenerated quickly. Still, he must be feeling the pressure now. I bet the last thing he expected was to be attacked by a rogue sword!

“Teacher!” Fran cried. “Teacher!”

She squinted against the dust and struggled to make it to the heart of the storm, but to no avail. Teacher ignored her and launched himself at Theraclede instead. The sudden acceleration caught the Fiend off guard. Before he could defend himself, half of his body was blown away.

“Aaaaaargh! What the hell is this thing?!”

For the first time, Theraclede looked like he was in pain. Of course he was. That sword had Fiend Crusher on it. Teacher pressed the advantage.

UNLEASH POTENTIAL!

Mana tore out of him. It was so intense that the air shook. My skin prickled. The pressure coming out of Teacher was beginning to rival Gaia.

I ground my teeth in frustration. Why couldn’t I get this kind of power out of Lind?

Oooooooh!

A giant magic circle appeared in the air and lightning came crashing through from above and from the sides, as three magic circles appeared on the walls and ceiling. More grand spells and, this time, Theraclede was surrounded.

“What are you up to?!”

I would have been toast by now, but Theraclede took the lightning head-on, and he kept coming—swinging his black greatsword in front of him to cut, scatter, and block. The battle was raging, and things were more intense now than they were when Urslars was fighting. Theraclede deflected lightning left and right with his sword, but it was all starting to feel so far away. My nerves were completely fried.

As I watched, Teacher’s blade shattered and the pieces flew in every direction. I thought the intense mana had finally blown him apart, but in fact, he was transforming himself. A thousand needles shot toward Theraclede all at once.

Aaaaaaah!

“You hunk of junk!”

The steel wires were closing in on Theraclede.

“Oooh, you’ve done it now!”

But somehow, he managed to warp away before he became a pincushion. He lost his right arm in the process, but Theraclede didn’t seem too bothered by it. Still, Teacher soon hunted him down again, transforming his blade back to normal but leaving his ribbon as a hundred steel wires. Now he could shepherd Theraclede whichever way he wanted.

Just then, I felt a sensation like an ice cube slipping down my spine. Before I could work out what it was, Kiara threw us to the ground.

“Get down!”

Skycutter.

The word was as quiet as it was terrifying. Teacher swung, slicing through everything in his path—cutting through Theraclede, Malice, mana, the air, the dungeon. Everything.

I looked up and saw deep gashes in the ceiling. I shuddered. If Kiara hadn’t thrown me to the floor, I’d be decapitated by now, and I wouldn’t even have noticed it coming.

“Gaaaaah!”

Theraclede was missing the whole lower half of his body, and he wasn’t regenerating as quickly anymore either. He was more powerful and more monstrous than Murelia, but he was finally starting to show weakness.

I couldn’t stop my hands from shaking. My heart was filled with fear.

This thing was no mere sword.

It was something else. Something more.

Alive.

Uraaaaaaagh!

“What now?” Theraclede shouted. “Haven’t you done enough already?!”

Teacher was transforming again—his blade guard grew and spread upward, covering his blade with layers of metal.

“I won’t let you have this one…!” Theraclede shouted.

He went on the offensive, focusing his Malice on his greatsword and bringing it down in a mighty strike. The attack was ten times more powerful than anything I could do, but it was turned away easily by Teacher’s barrier.

Urgh… awoooooo!

Teacher let out a mad howl, and I finally recognized the shape he was taking.

A wolf.

Five meters tall and made entirely of metal. The creature gave off pitch-black mana, mingling ominously with the red aura of Mad Ogre Form.

“It’s Fenrir…” I whispered, before I could stop myself.

He looked just like the Demon Wolf in the fairy tales I’d heard as a child. The one that had tried to devour the world. He was quite as intimidating as his namesake too.

“It’s open!” Master Kiara called from behind me.

While I was trembling with fear, she and Quina had kept trying the door. Finally, they’d found a way through.

“Come on,” Master said, sounding happy. “We’re getting out of here.”

“Y-yes!”

“Mianoa, take Gwendartha. Quina, go get Urslars. I’ll get Fran out of here.”

She failed to give me an order, but then, I guess I was shivering too much to be of any use.

As I headed for the door, Quina pulled Urslars’ arm over her shoulder and helped him up. But Theraclede had noticed what we were doing, and he wasn’t about to let Master Kiara get away.

“Leaving already?” he asked. “But we barely even got to play!”

“Tch!”

There was no way she could get past him. Not with Fran in tow—motionless and pale with shock, still staring hopelessly at Teacher.

“Damn it!” I cursed.

“My lady!” Quina shouted.

She tried to stop me, but there was no way she could reach me in time. I didn’t even know what I was doing, but I had to do something.

“Fran!” I shouted. “You have to come with me!”

“Mea…? But Teacher’s…”

“I know, but we have to go!”

“No!” she shouted. “I’m not leaving him behind!”

“I know how you feel. Really, I do.”

If that were Lind out there, I wasn’t sure that I could leave him either. But that didn’t change the fact we had to get away.

“Teacher isn’t himself anymore,” I told her. “He might attack you and not even realize it!”

“B-but…”

“That attack just now only missed because you got lucky, Fran!”

“…!”

“Come on!”

Fran hesitated, but she didn’t stop me when I grabbed her arm and dragged her toward the door. But before we could reach it, the steel wolf’s eyes turned on me. Suddenly, I couldn’t move. All I could do was shiver under the weight of his murderous intent.

Aaaaaaaargh! Fraaaaaan!

He said Fran’s name just then. Did he still recognize her? Maybe it wasn’t just luck that she survived that last onslaught.

Grooooooaaargh!

Teacher roared, firing a beam of light from his maw. I drew Lind to defend myself, but I didn’t think I could block the full force of the beam. I wasn’t sure I could block it at all.

But somehow, I survived.

“Master Kiara…?”

She’d put herself between me and the attack.

“Are you all right?” she asked.

“Y-yes, but you’re…!”

“Never mind me! You have to get out of here!”

“Y-yes!” I stammered. “Come on, Fran!”

It was like Master Kiara’s words brought me back to life. I grabbed Fran’s hand and ran towards the door.