"Hey, now is not the time to be spacing out." Naimes' reminder snapped Isabella back to attention.

Only then did she notice that Big Black had not recoiled after having its claw sliced by a single sword.

If anything, the attack only stirred up its ferocity further.

And in the place where its arm was severed there was no blood;

instead there were countless broken "hairs."

Those hairs kept writhing, interlocking with the hairs flowing from the torn palm, then rapidly drawing together.

In an instant, Big Black's hand looked as if it had never been cut at all.

This creature's entire vascular system had already undergone mutation, gaining active control.

Simply severing a limb could not harm it.

"The stats of this body are still a bit lacking;

it can't freely use the Secret Sword."

The three essential elements of strength—numerical value, traits, technique.

The problem with Nael's body right now was the numbers.

A value of thirteen was still a little low. Although the traits were decent, they were only decent, and could not fully realize Naimes' techniques, which had long since exceeded the current limits.

Back when Naimes was still human, his renown came not only from his secret sword techniques, but from the powerful numerical boost brought by the Breath of Holy Commandment pushed to higher ranks through Dual Commandment Synchronization.

At that time, Naimes was considered the most likely Holy Knight of his generation to become a Gold Seed.

"To kill this thing, it looks like I need to use the variant Secret Sword·World-Swallowing Whale."

Swordsmanship is actually ill-suited for fighting monsters with the ability to regrow severed limbs.

Swords excel at cutting and thrusting, and they work very well on enemies without regenerative ability.

Among Naimes' broad repertoire of offensive sword techniques, the only one he could barely use now was that World-Swallowing Whale move.

However…

"That one move wouldn't do me any good." Naimes wasn't here to throw his life away, at least not now.

"Against a creature like this, magic is the more useful tool. Isabella, you should bring out some of your trump cards too!"

Naimes gave Isabella that instruction while simultaneously testing her.

Last night in the graveyard, Isabella hadn't shown much trust toward him, but she had agreed to the outdoor search Naimes proposed.

Her agreement didn't come from naivety but from confidence that she could handle a surprise attack from Naimes.

That confidence showed itself today.

Big Black was very powerful and could exert pressure even over Naimes, yet Isabella had withstood the creature's ambush and struggled with it for a long time without suffering any injury.

That proved Isabella was definitely not ordinary.

Sure enough, as Naimes' secret sword failed to produce further effects, Isabella realized the situation was thorny.

With such commotion here, the old priest might return at any moment.

If they didn't want to face a Steel Seed priest in addition to this monster, they would have to play some hidden cards.

Thinking that, Isabella looked at Naimes, and after essentially confirming that Naimes—who could perform the Thousand Moons Extinguished, Flying Bird Turns—Nether Sword—was trustworthy, she said, "Buy me some time. I need to prepare a high-power spell that isn't in the holy domain."

Naimes nodded at that, then once more unleashed Secret Sword·Spinning Flying Swallow.

Using rotational force to strengthen the sword's penetration and cutting power.

This time the blade didn't aim for Big Black's paws;

it sliced toward the creature's head.

Naimes stopped defending and intended to trade injury for injury.

The instinctive threat made Big Black slow its attack. Although its whole vascular system had mutated, if its head were split in two it would struggle to survive.

So Big Black instinctively drew its head back while its body lunged toward Naimes on one side.

The spinning blade sliced through some of the black hairs;

Naimes was shoved to one side.

The power of the Grace of Forgiveness spared him a great deal of harm.

That degree of damage tolerance exceeded Big Black's expectations.

The moment Naimes hit the ground, the sword in his hand took on another change.

He reversed the grip, pressed the blade against his forearm, dropped his posture, and altered his breathing. From in front of Naimes, the sword seemed to vanish.

Secret Sword·Nether Crow Crossing!

Naimes lunged forward, nearly charging into Big Black's chest. The vanished blade suddenly reappeared and in an instant drove from bottom to top into Big Black's body.

With only that one thrust, Big Black's body was nearly cleaved in two.

But Big Black had already prepared for this: where the body had been severed, numerous black blood vessels snapped out from both sides and bound together.

The whole body resembled black mochi—pulled apart yet connected by countless silk-like threads.

As the body was stretched, it quickly fused back together, and during the process many black vessels shot toward Naimes to drag him into the creature as well, to swallow him into its mass.

After raising his sword, Naimes followed with the next move.

It wasn't another secret sword but a very basic technique—leaping chop.

The blade rotated slightly;

instead of striking straight down it angled from right to left, chopping toward the creature's head.

From earlier probing, the head was not immune to damage;

if the head was split, it would die.

But this thing understood that too, and in the next instant its head "detached."

Vessels inside its body tore through its own bones and flesh, pulling the head to one side.

Black filaments spread from the body and attached to the head and spinal column bit by bit.

This did not hinder the monster from continuing to control its body at all.

In fact, if it weren't for the lingering habits from when it had been human, the optimal way for it to exist would be to hide its head inside its body and control the rest from within. Thɪs chapter is updatᴇd by NoveI(F)ire.net

The creature quickly realized this.

After dodging Naimes' leaping chop, it retreated backward, its whole body changing.

The eyeballs on its head shot out, trailing black blood vessels behind them.

Those two eyeballs landed on its shoulders;

the head was further pulled in and wrapped inside more black vessels.

Thus a tall, headless body covered in black hair, each shoulder sporting an eye, appeared before Naimes.

The monster twisted its body and once more lunged at Naimes.

"The power trait is not bad, it has some intelligence, but its combat experience and technique are mediocre," Naimes analyzed.

This Big Black's techniques couldn't fully exploit its numerical value and traits.

If Naimes had the same numbers and traits, he estimated he could finish it within three moves.

Just then, Isabella's spell finished preparing.