CHAPTER 329: THE MONSTER-II

Splat.

A sickening wet crunch echoed through the courtroom as blood splattered across the marble floor. The vampire minister who had stood only moments ago was gone, obliterated. The floor beneath him cracked from the sheer force of the impact.

Gasps and screams erupted. Some human ministers collapsed in sheer horror, their faces wet with tears and snot, the scent of blood triggering an almost primal fear. They knew— they were next.

Arabella felt her stomach churn. She staggered back, her hand flying to her mouth as she saw Iliza slowly lift her blood drenched palm from the floor. The minister hadn’t just died—he’d been turned into a smear of flesh and bones.

Atlas exhaled a slow breath. "Troll potion," he muttered grimly.

Iliza’s deformed body turned, her grotesque head scanning the room as she released a shriek so high-pitched and sharp it forced Arabella to clutch her ears. She winced as the sound pierced through her.

Arabella leaned toward Atlas and whispered through gritted teeth, "Circe mentioned it in her book— but what is it, really?"

Cassius, meanwhile, watched the transformed Iliza with unblinking eyes, not in fear, but in fascination. He studied her movement like a hunter sizing up his prey.

Atlas answered low, "Trolls are massive creatures— ugly, distorted, and rather stupid. This potion mimics that. It mutates the human body into a brutal killing machine. Circe created it by accident. When she saw the destruction it could cause, she swore never to make another batch."

Cassius didn’t care for the history. "What else can it do?" he asked coolly, eyes still fixed on the beast.

Atlas’s gaze met his briefly. "Acid," he said simply.

As if summoned by the word, Iliza’s eyes locked on a group of vampires hiding behind a wooden table. She slammed her massive, clawed hand onto its surface. A viscous purple liquid dripped from her fingers like venom.

The acid hissed the moment it touched the wood. Within seconds, the thick table melted away as if it had never existed, revealing the trembling figure beneath. A terrible scream rang out.

Arabella’s heart pounded in her chest.

"I’ve seen enough," Cassius said sharply, snapping toward the paralyzed judge. "Judge Darling, are you done staring?"

The judge flinched as if waking from a trance. "You lunatic!" Why was he yelling right now?!

He has always been unafraid of death but he didn’t have to yell and bring everyone else into it!

"Good," Cassius muttered. "Because this lunatic is asking for your cooperation."

With a quick flick of his arms, Cassius shattered the iron shackles around his wrists. The metal crumbled like dry clay.

"This is an emergency," he said coolly, rising to his feet. "I’m not escaping. I’m taking control."

At that moment, Judge Darling realized the truth: Cassius had never been truly restrained. Not once during the trial had he been under anyone’s control. The iron shackles, the guards, the courtroom, none of it had held any real power over him. If he had wanted to break free, he could have done so at any time... effortlessly.

"This isn’t the time for me to apprehend you for breaking your shackles!" the judge snapped, finally shaken into action.

"Wonderful," Cassius replied with a savage grin. He raised his hand, and from the smallest scratch on his wrist, a single drop of blood fell. The crimson turned black mid air, and as it struck his palm, it solidified, twisting and stretching, until a black sword bloomed in his grip.

Cassius’s gaze cut toward the mutated creature. "It’s slow," he noted flatly.

Just then, Arabella pulled something from beneath her skirt. Cassius’s focus flickered, bloodlust briefly distracted.

His eyes dropped to her thigh, too pristine for a battlefield, and for the briefest second, his mind wandered to the memory of resting his head there. He frowned.

"You’re rousing something more dangerous than the monster, my dea—"

"Drink this." Arabella shoved a glass vial into his hand, not sparing him a glance.

Cassius sighed, exasperated. "Again, ignored."

But he didn’t hesitate. Whatever the potion was, he drank it to the last drop.

Cassius then spread his arm on the ground and the ministers who knew how to fight gathered around him, "We should distract them, your Highness!"

Cassius gave them a curt nod, then hurrying to attack, a blob of black step appeared from the ground, allowing him to hop around the air like an invisible step.

With that, he could float high enough to appear in front of Iliza’s face that had inflated beyond recognition. Iliza who saw him suddenly appearing in front of her face seemed panicked as her arms began to move around. If her body wasn’t squished by the building, she would have used her legs to stomp on people and thankfully that wasn’t an option.

It was a good idea that she was stuck on the ground because of her size.

Cassius didn’t expect what came next.

Iliza suddenly snapped her jaw wide open, unnaturally wide, as if ready to devour him whole.

"Well, that’s new," Cassius muttered, raising a single brow as he stared straight into the gaping maw.

"Cassius!" Arabella cried out in warning.

But he was already moving.

Without hesitation, he thrust his left hand forward, conjuring a swirling green fireball and launching it directly into Iliza’s open mouth.

The creature hadn’t expected fire— only flesh, so it was even more suceptible to the pain that follow.

Agonizing heat exploded across her tongue and scorched down her throat. Iliza shrieked, thrashing violently. The pain drove her into a frenzy.

Terrified, the remaining ministers bolted, fleeing toward the exits in a stampede of panic. In the end, only eight of them remained in the chamber.

Cassius didn’t flinch. Sword in hand, he moved in, aiming for her neck. But as he brought the blade down, he frowned.

It wasn’t enough.

The creature’s neck was grotesquely thick, swollen and pulsing like an overinflated balloon. His black blade barely pierced the skin.

"Tsk bubbly, can’t you strengthen your sharpness?" he muttered under his breath and his blade began to shake as if telling him that it was already the sharpest.

From across the room, Atlas shouted, "Set the sword on fire!"

Cassius turned his head just slightly, eyes narrowing with understanding. In the next instant, he sheathed the weapon in flame, the black iron glowing red-hot. With a sharp thrust, he drove the burning blade into Iliza’s eye.

She roared in pain, blinded, stumbling back. It worked, momentarily.

But the triumph was short-lived.

The blinding only heightened her panic. With a sound like a wailing child, Iliza began to thrash wildly. Her massive arms tore into the ceiling, debris crashing around them. The pressure that had kept her bloated legs pinned down was suddenly gone, freed by her own destruction.

And with her first stomp, she made her first kill.

One of the eight fell instantly, crushed beneath the monstrous foot. In the blink of an eye, they were down to seven.