EP.68 The Puppet Progenitor and the Unpleasant Puppet Show - 5
"Grrrrr."
A low infrasonic frequency echoed through the Abyss. As the beast's growl brushed past, muscles convulsed briefly in terror. It was the same for me, the regressor, and Finlay.
The King of Dogs, who always took the side of humans and stayed closest to them. When humans fought amongst themselves, he would rather close his eyes and plug his ears than intervene.
But against monsters forged from blood, he showed not even a handful of affection or trust. Therefore, when humans fought against vampires, Aji was humanity's most powerful ally.
"Grrr."
Toward those who were once human, Aji bared his teeth in the truest sense.
"B-Block him!"
Finlay hastily gave the order. Hundreds, thousands of Black Knights rose from the ground. Clad in pitch-black armor and armed with various equipment, the Black Knight Order stood guard, protecting Finlay and the vampire.
Thud.
The Black Knights holding tower shields painted in darkness blocked the frontlines, and sharp lances sprouted between them. The heavily armored Black Knights held their breath, cautiously waiting for the beast's approach.
Intent on surrounding and hunting it if it approached recklessly.
"Bark---!!"
However.
Spears, shields, lances, armor, or even the Black Knights.
None of them could block the King of Dogs.
With a massive roar, Aji leaped. The moment that thought crossed their minds, Aji's figure was already in the center of the Black Knight Order.
Even the regressor briefly lost sight of Aji's figure, and the wind, unable to chase after him, blew a beat too late.
Snap. Aji snapped his head up. A Black Knight's head flew into the sky. The black smoke pouring out instead of blood was pitch-black.
The King of Dogs signaled the start of the massacre with the Black Knight's blood.
The vanguard holding shields turned their bodies, and the knights holding spears tried to change the direction of their spear shafts. The knights holding swords thrust their blades forward, and the knights holding maces raised both hands high.
However, no attacks were executed. Every time Aji stomped his feet, armor shattered, weapons broke, and black bodies were torn to shreds.
"Awoooo---!!"
The overwhelming violence of a beast rampaged. Aji was a beast in human form, a disaster to the vampires who played with corpses.
Human blood. The scent of human blood that dogs so desperately love excited Aji, the King of Dogs. It was because the Progenitor, having reached the pinnacle of Blood Manipulation, had even contained the blood scent, but Finlay had not. Aji felt displeased, and that led to a desire for destruction.
The Black Knight caught in his claws crumbled like smoke. If he shattered one, he was already on the next. If he bit off one neck, he was on to the next.
Simply put, he was steadily defeating them one by one with each strike. But the speed at which he dispatched them was so fast that it looked like a spreading wildfire. As if ripples spreading from where Aji landed, the Black Knights were pulverized, and every time, black smoke and red blood scattered about.
Seeing the Black Knights being ground down by the second, Finlay felt terror.
"Oh Progenitor! That beast!"
At Finlay's shout, the vampire slowly waved his hand.
Then, the scattered darkness and blood surged up again, forming a massive shape. A giant Black Knight, standing 5 meters tall with armor seemingly 1 meter thick, stood holding a massive mace hardened from blood.
Right as Aji sank his teeth into the scruff of a remaining Black Knight, the giant Black Knight slammed down its mace. It was a swift movement that belied its size. The heavy mace struck Aji's head hard, and the shockwave alone sent concrete shattering in all directions.
A sound loud enough to deafen the ears rang out.
The calm after the storm. Sound ceased after the impact. Amidst the hearing filled with the noisy tinnitus of *Beeeeep*, the only things moving were debris that rose and settled.
"Finish him off!"
Even in the midst of that, the giant Black Knight twisted the mace half a turn and thrust it down. Short and hard, as if delivering the coup de grâce.
And when the giant Black Knight raised its arm,
the mace was severed from the middle.
"Growl."
Aji, who had planted all four feet into the ground, raised his head. Hanging from his mouth was the giant mace, severed in the middle, looking three times his own size.
With that kind of weight and hardness, it would be normal for his teeth to be crushed and his jaw strength to give out, but Aji lifted his jaw lightly as if biting a toy and shook his head from side to side.
Thud, bang, crack, snap.
The giant mace with a heavy weight vibrated unrealistically. As he shook his head as if shaking off water, everything within a 1 to 5-meter radius to Aji's left turned into dust and smoke.
The remaining Black Knights, the giant Black Knight's legs, and even the concrete floor were all equal before Aji's power.
Pulverization. A destruction that could not be explained by anything else swept through.
Snap. The mace broke from the middle. It couldn't withstand the force of Aji's swing. Unaware of this, Aji, who had shaken it a few more times, spat out the remaining stick of a mace and glared at Finlay and the vampire.
As the savage ferocity was directed at him, Finlay unconsciously cowered. And furious at the fact that he felt fear, he screamed.
"It's useless!! The Progenitor's power is not just this!"
Zealotry towards the Progenitor, the madness it created overflowed. Finlay used his ability to grab the vampire's heart.
The Progenitor's body flinched for a moment at the throbbing heart. A red glow returned to his cloudy eyes for an instant, but it was fleeting.
Having temporarily seized the Progenitor's heart through Blood Manipulation, Finlay forcefully moved the blood flowing through the Progenitor's body.
"Oh Progenitor! Show your power to that beast!!"
The Black Knight Order. The strongest military force the vampire could summon without any preparation or risk. Although they couldn't hold out for even a moment against the King of Dogs, the true essence of the Black Knight Order did not lie there.
Within the scattered darkness, shadows clumped together. From a round pit of darkness, a pitch-black arm suddenly shot out, pressed against the ground, and raised its body.
It happened in every shadow that existed in the Abyss.
The immortal Black Knights who had fallen under Aji's claws and teeth stood up one by one. Within seconds, the Black Knight Order restored its numbers to before they were wiped out.
The resurrected Black Knight Order shone red glows from within their armor, facing off against the King of Dogs.
"The Black Knight Order rises infinitely! What you defeated are just scarecrows that can be recreated right away!!"
Finlay screamed in frenzy and pointed his finger at Aji. At his command, the Black Knight Order began to march all at once.
A march toward a single being. Even though they were numerous, the sight of the Black Knight Order marching fearlessly toward the King of Dogs was enough to inspire awe.
"Die swept away in a sea of blood, you beast!!"
Finlay shouted, spitting blood from his mouth. Expecting that the King of Dogs, gradually growing exhausted from fighting the infinite Black Knight Order, would eventually fall.
"Grrrr."
However, Aji might have low intelligence, but he was not stupid.
Aji, who instinctively glared at the place drawn by the blood scent, growled loudly, pressed his front paws to the ground, and lowered his stance.
The claws of his hind legs dug into the concrete, and his front paws gripped the ground. Flat on all fours, the stance of a beast of prey preparing to leap.
Around the time Finlay felt a sense of foreboding, that premonition became reality.
"Woof-!"
Aji, who barked shortly, leaped in that direction. The target was the vampire, sitting on the coffin and staring blankly.
The moment he lifted his feet, Aji's figure was already soaring toward the vampire.
Slicing through the darkness, sharp claws rushed in. The outstretched hand was already within reach. The overwhelming violence of the King of Dogs approached the vampire's small and frail body. The momentum was so fierce that it seemed like it would burst the vampire in one blow.
Finlay's eyes widened as if they would pop out.
"N-No...!"
But Finlay's ability couldn't stop it. He couldn't even perceive it. He could only feel a sense of foreboding and belatedly be horrified.
The moment Aji, who had flown past their perception, was about to plunge his hand into the vampire's chest.
A red hoof fell from above Aji.
Faster than when he flew in, Aji's figure rebounded. Aji's body, which had half-crushed the ground as it went in before bouncing out, floated low in the air, and above him, the Blood Horse spun half a turn and leaped up. A giant horse hoof the size of a human torso struck Aji.
Thwack.
The sound of flesh meeting hoof was loud enough to be heard all the way here. Aji flew across the air as if he were a small ball. It was much faster than a ball I could throw.
Immediately after, with the sound of crumbling bricks, the entire wall of the prison's 3rd floor turned into a cloud of dust. Aji's figure disappeared into it.
[Snort.]
Behind that, the horse stomped.
The Blood Horse Rallion. The first familiar who only listened to the Progenitor's orders had joined the battle ahead of the Progenitor's crisis.
Finlay, who had fallen into hell but grasped at a sliver of hope, smiled pitifully.
"Haha! Rallion! Yes! Finally listening to my command...!"
[Pfffft.]
Rallion snorted as if it was ridiculous.
The Blood Horse's exhale was like a storm. Finlay's body, unprepared, floated into the air. He bounced on the ground a few times, rolled over, and barely managed to flip his body and stand up.
"You bastard! I'm controlling the Progenitor right now. I am the regent! If you're also a subordinate of the Progenitor, you must listen to my...!"
Naturally, the Blood Horse didn't budge. It just stomped vigorously and stared intently in the direction where Aji had disappeared.
Finlay panicked seeing Rallion still taking a combat stance.
"What? Why there."
The reason was soon revealed. Finlay, his body trembling, slowly turned his head.
"Grrrrrrrrrrrrr..."
The ground shook. The enraged beast was making the world tremble. From somewhere far away, on the 3rd floor.
Finlay's face turned ashen.
"N-No way. To be perfectly fine after taking that kind of blow."
The King of Dogs. Man's best friend, and an always loyal beast.
And a born hunter who hunts his enemies.
Finlay had misunderstood something.
The reason the King of Dogs hated vampires was because they were human corpses. Even humans shun corpses that were once human, so how could a dog with a sensitive nose welcome a human body walking around reeking of a friend's blood.
However, that was merely an expression of distaste, far from a decisive will to kill the enemy.
In other words, the savage aggressiveness that made the beast a beast was not directed at vampires.
However.
"...No, the King of Dogs. You mean he wasn't going all out until now?"
If the opponent is a beast, the King of Dogs transforms into a hunter.
A blurred figure soared. The wind that followed left only traces of dust. It was so fast that the dust cloud couldn't keep up with the speed and swirled.
"Woof."
A handful of the blood forming Rallion burst out. The mane-fluttering neck was half gone. Blood splattered onto the ground.
Behind that, Aji, who had landed lightly, spat out a reddened piece of flesh. The torn piece of flesh fell to the ground.
[Snort.]
Rallion, who had suffered a fatal wound, staggered heavily, but it was only for a moment.
The red piece of flesh that fell to the ground melted softly and slipped back into Rallion's shadow. Right after, the missing handful of neck regenerated.
Rallion, regenerated by the Progenitor's power. Even with its neck torn off just a moment ago, it still burned with fighting spirit and glared at Aji. Every time it scraped the ground with its front hooves, the concrete flipped over.
"Grrr."
Aji also growled in dissatisfaction toward Rallion, who was standing perfectly fine even after having its neck torn off. His stiffly raised claws dug into the ground.
The two beasts glared at each other, and then, as if making a promise, roared at the same time.
"Awooooo!"
[Neighhhhhh!]
Leaving only those sounds behind, the two beasts charged at each other.